The two paths that diverged.

I was riding the bus home one day, when I was thinking about what some of my friends and family have been talking to me about. It was then I saw two mental images. This wasn't some sort of magical epiphany, where I physically see images that aren't actual, but these two images came as ideas.

The first was a old man sitting in a chair, surrounded by children. He told them stories about his past, his dreams, the family that he worked to support, both monetarily and as a father, husband and son. He told them of his once grandiose dream of changing the world. A dream that he, as a young man, cherished beyond anything else. Then, as he grew up, he realised that he would have to sacrifice all that he was brought up to protect. The happiness of his family and the future of his children. It was then that he knew he had to make a choice. He choose to change his dream, to change the world one hand at a time, instead of giving up his humanity to become a driving force. His children grew up, and due to circumstances, were forced to place him in an old folk's home. Still, he was proud of them, and is at peace with the fact that he lived a life of fulfilment.

The second was that of an aging man, in an expensive tailored suit, in a large office. He sits by the window of this office on the 43rd floor of a building in the middle of a roaring city, in the dark, alone. The world revolves around him. Without the things he has done, the world would not be the way it is, for better or for worse. He has changed the world. But now, when it was all said and done, here he sat, with only a glass of scotch for company, and a lonely home to return to. As a boy, he decided to change the world. Everything else; love, peace, friends, were all irrelevant. How can the emotional fulfilment of one man be put before the advancement of the mankind? Mankind before man, that was his mantra. His will had been strong as steel, and his love for the world drove him to sell his life for what he believed in, a new world. Now, he sat, his work finished, what did he have left? Was it worth it? Mankind before man. Yes, it was.

These two men are, in fact, one and the same. Pretty sure you guessed it already, though. The only difference between them is one decision. How one choice can change the person you are. Now, I find myself empathising with both men, and find myself with a choice of my own.

Which one will I become?

The present is the future, all in time.
-Gabe