The Choice That Makes All Other Choices
Rea,
Have you ever had to choose between doing something the easy way or the right way? Like when you’re working on math homework and you’ve finished the required problems - you could stop there, or you could try the extra challenge problems that might be harder and that you might get wrong. It’s tempting to take the easy path and just be done, isn’t it?
There’s an ancient Greek story about this exact challenge. It’s about Hercules, one of the greatest heroes of mythology, but it takes place before any of his famous adventures. It happens when he was about your age, trying to figure out what kind of person he wanted to be.
One day, Hercules came to a fork in the road. There, he met two women. The first woman was dressed in fancy clothes and wearing a lot of makeup. She pointed to her path, which looked smooth and easy. “Come with me,” she said. “On my path, you’ll never have to work hard. You can have fun all day, eat whatever you want, and do whatever feels good at the moment.”
The second woman was dressed simply but had a confident, strong look about her. Her path was steep and rocky. “My path is harder,” she admitted. “You’ll have to work for everything you get. Sometimes you’ll be tired, sometimes you’ll want to quit. But each challenge will make you stronger, and at the end, you’ll be proud of who you’ve become.”
Hercules had to choose. The easy path was so tempting - who doesn’t want things to be simple? But he chose the hard path, because he realized something important: the person you become depends on the choices you make.
You know what? You’re just like Hercules - you make this kind of choice all the time, and you often choose the harder path that makes you stronger. Remember when you started playing the bass? It wasn’t easy at first - your fingers had to learn new positions, you had to learn to read different music, and everything felt strange. But you stuck with it, and now look how far you’ve come!
I saw you do it again just this week with that challenging piano piece. You could have given up when it felt too hard, but instead you practiced a little bit each day. Even when you got parts wrong, you kept trying. That’s exactly what Hercules did - choosing the path that makes you stronger, even when it’s difficult.
The amazing thing about choices is that they build on each other. Each time you choose the harder but better path, like you do with your music, the next hard choice becomes a little easier. It’s like building a muscle - every practice session makes you stronger.
Love, Abba
