The Easy Way or the Right Way.

  I have been thinking about the nature of “the easy way” for the past couple days. 

  Why is it that the hard way and the right way are usually one and the same?  Everyone has heard the expression, “Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.”  There have been books written on the subject.  Far greater men than me have discoursed at length on the subject ranging from simple philosophers to God himself.  So, why is it so hard? 

“Now I have come to the cross-roads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew, but I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard.”

                                --Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman

Imagine for a second that you come to a fork in the road of your life and you have the chance to choose between two roads.   One is rocky, fraught with danger, uphill and treacherous.  The other is paved, smooth, sloping downward and beautifully manicured.  Which one seems more attractive?  Be honest! 

  Now for some more information… You have to make the decision in your life blind, meaning you do not know the end of the road from the beginning.  You can see a ways up the up-sloping and difficult road to where it bends around some rather treacherous looking boulders and that’s all.  Likewise with the paved, attractive road, you see a ways to where the road banks around a beautiful pond and passes out of sight.  You are free to choose either road, but once chosen, you may not turn back. 

  For a long time I was the type of person who would seek the easy road.  I have, on occasion, known the right path and intentionally turned from it because I knew how hard it would be.  What’s worse is I knew the reward at the end of the right path that I was forfeiting and I still turned from it.  Why?

  I was a coward.

  Well, either that or I am self-destructive.  For a long time I made a habit out of coasting through life.  I considered it a personal triumph to be able to find that beautiful balance point where I would reap maximum reward for minimal effort.  I am told that this is a common trait of the intelligent.  I guess most intelligent people are lazy.  Looking back, I wish I were a little dumber and a lot more hard-working…  I wish I had learned to work at an earlier age.  I may have to write more about the subject of work again later. 

  For now, let’s go back to that fork in the road for a minute.  Now, I said that you have to make the decision of which path to take blind, but what if you knew where you were trying to go?

“Which road to I take?” said Alice.

“Where do you want to go?” asked the Cheshire Cat.

“Well, I… I don’t know.” Alice answered.

“Then,” said the Cat, “it doesn’t matter.  If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

  What is your ultimate objective?  Where do you want to go?  Who do you want to be when you get there?  What do you want to be like?  Who do you want with you when you arrive?  These are hard questions for someone who is directionless. 

  But you know the great thing?  Unlike the choice of the fork in the road, we'll always have a way back.  If you would rather ascend the mountain than coast to the valley floor, you need only make a choice.  Make the choice.  Don't apologize for it, excuse it or call it by another name.  Make the choice.  Own it.  And rise above the easy way.