The Path I began to tread upon my path in life at the dawn of my existence. During the hours before the sun rose above the horizon, I began to feel hope that I would soon be out of the timeless twilight into which I found myself in. As the light of the sun crested, I came to the realization that it was more beautiful that I had ever hoped it could be. The exaltation of hope helped to decide the direction I would take. As I have traveled down my path in life, the hope that became such a basic part of my being, kept me walking into the light of the sun. Any obstacle or shadow that crossed my path, I always hoped that I would come through unscathed and see the world as I had seen it during that first moment the sun peaked above the horizon, beautiful and untainted. Anytime I was knocked down, all I would have to do is look up and see the sun shining in my face, and I would already be hoping that the next experience would give me that feeling of wonder and joy I felt in the beginning. What I would come to find out later is that by being blinded by continuously walking into the sun, I would never see things in their true light. My perspective had and would always been one that has been white-washed and misleading. Never seeing the situations for what they truly are. Always hoping that the same obstacles and shadows across my path and tripped me up would turn out different. As time passed on, my eyes followed the path of the sun...sending my vision and thoughts ever higher into the realm of the impossible. While the trials have been the same, the resulting fall has become increasingly more painful. Yet still I rise with the hope that it will be better next time. I believe that I have finally hit mid-day on this journey of life. I am not aware of what caused it, but I have paused begun to look around. Ahead of me, my path splits into two directions, each one making a sharp turn so I am unable to tell which path I need to take. On either side of me, there other paths. I know these to be the paths of other people that will join with mine, but they are not mine to take. As I turned around to look behind me, the vision that I was greeted with caused me to fall to the ground and weep. A short distance from where I laid was the beginning of my path. It is empty except for a single stone jutting up in the middle. The realization that I had spent half of my life being tripped by the same stone crashed into me like a tidal wave. Devastating, yet at the same time a complete cleansing. As I now sit here and think of where hope has gotten me, I realize that it is a double-edged sword. On one side, it has blinded me to what I needed to do in life. On the other side, it has allowed me to continue to rise and not give up. Would I be better off with no hope at all? Possibly. I believe that it would allow me to progress further down my path. But without hope, I would have avoided the set back and the pain of falling. They say that pain lets you know you are alive and without it, you may as well be dead. Maybe that is the secret to life. If you never experience being hurt, you can never fully appreciate the joy of living. With these new revelations, I have begun to reassess the stone I have been tripping over all my life. I am beginning to realize that it is not what I thought it once was. I believe that trial lies in the choosing of one of the two paths ahead of me. But before I can confront this new challenge, I know that I must take a few steps back and conquer the stone.