"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both..."

So I had a strange and semi-awkward experience in my Doctrine & Covenants class. Everyday, me and my two homies sit in the back row. We're pretty legendary among our classmates for volunteering ourselves at every opportunity to read aloud, lead in a song...pretty much anything and everything. Earning us the distinction of "class pets." Well, before the class bell rang Professor Dorius (our instructor) approached us as we were chatterboxing about our weekends...

Professor Dorius: "Geoffrey, I thought you were the good one out of you three."
*Bewildered look graced my face*
Me: "Uh, what are you talking about Dr. Dorius??"
Professor Dorius: (Turning to my two friends) "Well, you know I passed him the other day walking on campus and he didn't even say hi to me. Can you believe it?"

Of course he said it jokingly...then later joked about my grade reflecting my negligence, but I was altogether just drawn aback. Being the nerd that I am, I usually find great entertainment value in approaching my teachers around campus with an awkward hi-five or handshake. After class, I asked him why he didn't just approach me first then..

Professor Dorius: "Well, you looked like you were in your own world and so I choose the higher path and let you go your way."
Me: "Hmmm, well next time you should take the road less traveled and say hey..."
*Both laugh*

What is this "higher path" to which he referred? That bothered me for about 2 minutes, until I was pleasantly distracted by some other entertaining thought. But that's beside the point. Obviously I must've been absorbed in something awesome when Professor Dorius saw me on campus, but evenso was it "noble" to avoid communication in the circumstance? Maybe, maybe not. I stand by my comment though that sadly "the road less traveled" is communication in seemingly awkward situations.

It's my personal philosophy that "awkward" is a mentality. Inherently a situation cannot be awkward, but rather we ourselves impose it.

In my discussion with Brother Dorius, I alluded to one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. I think the last stanza really captures my perception of Dorius' "higher path":

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.

Communication makes a difference, no matter what the circumstance. In my opinion, we need to modify our perception of "awkward" in order to realize sincere and meaningful communication.

-Geoffrey Simeona