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By Brooks A. Mick, M.D.
Aug. 23, 2006 The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. --Robert Frost This is one of my favorite poems. Frost used very simple language and a simple analogy to describe a basic fact of human existence: We make choices and those choices lead on to others and it may be "ages and ages hence" before we know the full import of that initial decision. Long ago, in a dangerous diplomatic wood, Harry Truman took a path and, decades hence, Reagan stopped out of the woods after having completed Truman's journey. One notes that Truman was called cowardly for his approach by the Republicans, the opposition party. One notes that there were many setbacks in pursuing the Truman Doctrine. But one also notes that subsequent administrations, Republican and Democrat, ollowed through on the tenets of the Truman Doctrine, having recognized its correctness. And we note that it took many decades for the fruition of the Truman Doctrine. A few years ago, George W. Bush set off on a path in an even more dangerous, fog-enshrouded woods, with even fewer signposts to guide, and the end of the journey may be decades away. I trust America will not abandon the trail. Norman Podhoretz, in the Wall Street Journal, has written a piece about the abandonment of the Bush Doctrine by many, even some of those who helped shape it. This about as calm, fair, and complete analysis of the current status of the Bush Doctrine as is available. It is well worth your reading. Americans have, I am afraid, become so conditioned to an easy life and quick solutions to problems that they don't see the long struggle ahead no recognize that it is absolutely necessary if they are to have an America worth handing over to their great-grandchildren. Those Americans who bail on the trail, or those who don't even set foot on it, will never have a chance to complete the log journey through the woods of the war on terrorism. Beware the wolves and the pusillanimous pseudohawks. They are both dangerous. ------------ About the author Brooks A. Mick: Physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre. Email: brooks15@cox.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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