theinforager

The Inforager takes a trip down a pathway inspired by a recent discussion of what makes life “interesting”.

The Road Less Travelled is a famous poem by Robert Frost that, in revisiting it, holds a special meaning for me. At a time in my life where many paths are converging, when there is no easy way to choose and no clear solution, no promise of success, these few words seem to point the way. Check it out.
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/2940/frost8.html

Sure. It’s probably a cliche and maybe even a well worn one at that: how many places have you seen it in print or heard it referred to in everything from literature class to lectures? But you know, maybe it’s more applicable to the times we live in and maybe it’s time we can all look Robert Frost’s gentle nudge to choose a path less sure, less travelled by everyone else. The idea is simple: explore, be adventurous, take a few risks, be willing to go your own way. You will be rewarded for it.

I think now about the number of times in my own life I have made a difficult decision, one that was unpopular or one that simply went against the grain of conventional “wisdom”. As long as the decision or path wasn’t totally self destructive or reckless (and there were plenty of those to!) or didn’t run through someone else’s woods or yard, it has worked out for the better. I have usually found more experiences, met more new friends, found new ways to challenge and then reinvigorate my own positions, thinking and life than I ever would have by taken the easy or sure or well travelled path. In fact, I wish I had done it more often and with more courage and more vigor. I remember well telling my father I didn’t want to be an accountant. I wanted to be a writer. And that was a good thing. A pathway that beckoned and promised all sorts of opportunities for failure and starvation. I didn’t fail or starve. But neither did I follow that path completely or as long as I should have—I took a side road to a more commercial version, one that is creative, fulfilling and fun but not the same. No regrets now but I can easily see how I could have kept going and chasing my dream, the one not travelled by anyone else I knew.

Now comes today and we are met every morning by a choice of pathways–personal, professional and spiritual. Of course the internet and the myriad of branches, side trails, new roads and connection nodes have created nearly limitless possibilities for everything from education to earning a living to simply publishing opinions without censor! Time, geography and distance are no longer such imposing barriers. The Road Less Travelled is a global trek.

Other limitations of the old world–race, religion, sex, lifestyle preference are starting to crumble. From the comfort of your desk or chair you can be anyone, anywhere, anytime doing anything you like and if it pays the bills–even better!

You can live in LA, go to school in Hong Kong and work in Argentina (if you have enough bandwidth and caffeine).The great democratization of information is well underway; now we have a democratization of pathways to success and mobility. Of course, that only counts if you can afford access to the internet. If you live in an East LA barrio or a camp in Dafur the road less travelled is a whole lot harder to hit from your on ramp.

It’s quite frankly criminal that the likes of Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Dell, IBM et al have spent more on CEO pay that on wiring schools, drop in centers, free access nodes and other places for folks to learn, work and live in virtual space. Sure, Intel has its “Playhouses” in the innercity and I suppose the Gates Foundation is doing wonders for literacy and medicine. But it’s not enough by the people who have the most to give to the most.

Why can’t we get them all together to build a Road Less Travelled foundation, tear down the so called “digital divide” and start democratizing access?