The Road Less Traveled

“Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference”

-Robert Frost

 

It was almost 10 pm. Speeding up my pace, I rode a bus from Greenhills to the V. Mapa station of the LRT2. I was worried that I might miss the last train to Katipunan; this was my only way of going home with limited cash (P100 to be exact), and limited time. Honestly, I wasn’t able to ask for permission that I would go to Greenhills; my parents knew that I was in Katipunan with a few good old friends. The bus trailed on and I saw a beacon of light, shining hope upon the hopeless; the train station. And look! It was still a thirty minutes before 10. I will make it, I said.

 

Fast-forward to when I reached Katipunan station (Nobody would like to hear the whole train ride, nothing much happened really). As I climbed the stairs of the only underground station of the LRT, I was greeted with an eerie atmosphere. The station had a sight that I wasn’t familiar of. Being underground, nobody can distinguish if the sun had set or it was scorching above. But the mere unfamiliar sight of the station gave me the correct time. The ticketing machines had stopped buzzing and beeping and they had no lines in front of them. Not a single soul was rushing down the platform to catch the next train. And the usually jam-packed Aurora Boulevard was empty.

 

While walking, a multitude of ideas swirled in the bowls of my subconscious. I wondered what has happened to my friends who I left in Greenhills. Probably, they would have been fetched by their drivers in their luxury cars. They would have made with no hassles to their grand mansion in the most exclusive villages in the metro.

 

While I walk alone, illuminated by the orange glow of the street lights, I pondered on these thoughts. I was saddened by the fact that I am probably the least financially capable student in my block. I don’t have my own car, lest my own driver. My family doesn’t live in a grand mansion complete with maids and all the house-help a house needs. I am just lucky to be a scholar in the Ateneo since high school. There’s no big name to ruin, no humongous treasure to spend.

 

From Greenhills to Katipunan, I had to ride a jam-packed bus, walk from SM Sta. Mesa to the LRT station, ride the second to the last train to Katipunan Station, and walk with unknown shadows in Aurora Boulevard and Katipunan Avenue. No luxury cars, no drivers, and no money.

 

But when I was a kid, I was taught to think of the positives. I would remember my lola telling me to always look at things on the bright side. And so I did. I wondered, what do I have that my pampered friends don’t have? They don’t have the calloused feet that I attained from miles of walking. They don’t have the aching knees that I got while running up the stairs of countless overpasses and train stations. They don’t have the fear of being robbed, or killed, while walking in dark, empty, unaccommodating alleys.

 

Talk about positivity.

 

Then again, they don’t have the experiences I had while walking with these calloused feet. They don’t have the glorious feeling whenever the pain of these knees recedes. They don’t have the constant longing for home and the warm and cozy feeling, the sense of security, and the open arms that welcome me whenever I reach my destination.

 

I have nothing against my friends. It doesn’t matter to them whether I have a driver or not. It doesn’t matter to them if I live in an exclusive village or not. All that matters is that we are the closest of friends, and that we would stick together whatever happens. It is just that their families have been more blessed compared to mine. They have resources that I would not attain in many years time. But nature created its own balance. What they have, I don’t have. But there are intangible things that I have that they don’t have. The experiences I had, the sights and scenes I have laid my eyes upon, and the memories that I would always cherish forever. These things, immaterial they may be, will last as long as I live.

 

And it took me a bus ride, a train ride, and a walk at 10 in the evening with the fear of death to realize this.