The path less taken - with a lot more friction!

There is a very beautiful saying:

The road to Disaster is ordered by the Righteous, planned by the Well-meaning, and paved with their good intentions.

I took this right out of Mercedes Lackey's Shinain sayings. Ok, maybe beautiful is not apt for this quotation, I'd say, dead-on is probably the better adjective in the world of slang.

Now, as an aside - slang is so wonderfully useful to convey the nitty gritty nuances of what we want to say, isn't it? Totally useful!

Back on topic: So you have this person, let's call him person A. He is surrounded by his little circle of life composed of his nuclear family, his extended family, his friends and his acquaintances. Within this little circle, you have his well-wishers, his rivals, his coat-climbers, his nemeses... He knows, quite clearly, who is what and how much each person means to him and vice-versa. He knows immediately what advice to discount, without any guilt, from any of his far acquaintances or the people who, he judges, wish to add negativity to his life. He also knows that some people in his circle wish only to help him but who are wise enough to let him find his own path through life. Because let's face it, no two paths are alike - similar maybe to a remarkable extent, but as long as each individual can think for himself, he's never going to be heading the same way as anyone else at every single cross-roads. He knows however, that these people are always there to turn to, who will help with no favors asked, or judgement imposed. Then there are the other loved ones who believe that just because they love, they have the responsibility to shine the light on every single corner of his soul. There might be dark corners that shy away from this intensity and camouflage themselves even better through subconscious manipulation (to his detriment), there might be sharp edges which cut out at the seekers and lead to growing pain for them as well as him, there might be outright helplessness at watching a path being drawn that completely misguides him because the seekers feel they know best... a million and one things... However, all this leads to is either a fight to develop his own character as he feels works best for him with the companionship of a guilt-laden emotional burden due to the need to fight with loved ones, or an equivalently guilt-laden trip down someone else's path, to someone else's goal with the constant knowledge that this is not of his seeking, not what will complete him, and even if he begins to enjoy the path, there is always the insidious knowledge that the one right that every human being deserves to enjoy was denied to him by the people he trusted the most. Hmmm, I guess I did not need the name A... a highly individualistic portrayal this is, is it not? Biased toward the individual. Of course, if this A has been brought up by responsible people, his character has been shaped and moulded in a way that will wish to follow societal norms as this is the path of least resistance. However, should he choose to rebel, with the knowledge of those norms and the knowledge that they exist to provide a relatively calm, cohabitable existance, his reasons should be given due weightage and he should be given the chance to see where his chosen path takes him.

The world needs change - stagnation only leads to mediocrity, or worse, superficiality in life. If a few, or more, individuals choose to take the path less taken, may the blessings of the universe be distributed equally to them as the rest of the general populace... :)