A Life Changing 'Misdial'
A Life Changing Misdial
One of my favorite poems is Robert Frost’s “Road Not Taken”, which I read for the first time in high school. I read it again just moments ago, and I was reminded of a similar experience that happened to me many years ago. There are millions who identify with Mr. Frost’s poem.
Years ago, I made a phone call at Crane Jr. College in Chicago. It is presently Malcolm X College. The call was prompted out of a conversation with a neighbor and friend about future prospective schools for my education. Little did I realize that the call would change the entire direction in which I was headed, and alter the course of my life both physically and spiritually.
Up to the point of the call, figuratively speaking, there was simply one road who’s sign simply read, “You need an education”. I was content with the road that I was on at the City College, and the next road that I was about to consider, unlike Mr. Frost’s, did not diverge. The road continued forward, but I swished to a completely different road. The courses that I took at City College certainly have served me well throughout my career and into retirement.
In the road analogy, the two schools were built for different reasons and purposes, and therefore were never intended to diverge; and the likelihood of their merger was remote. However, there were certainly forces at work on the second road that guided and enticed me to completely exit and enter that road.
Long before there were cell phones, there were phone booths and landline telephones; and I was a young man of 18 with near perfect sight and steady hands. I had the ‘right’ phone number and a dime in my hand, but yet somehow I ‘misdialed’. Or did I? Both schools had initials of C B C. Therefore, what for years I assumed and thought to be a simple mistake, has in my latter years given me great peace and solace that God in His infinite Providence was guiding and directing me all along. The phone call that appeared to be a ‘misdial’, in reality was a proper dial by an unseen hand other than my own.
Before I discovered the second road, there were two phone numbers and two schools. There was the number I was given for the school I wanted to explore, and there was the number of another college that I never knew existed. You guessed it. I enrolled, attended for four years, and graduated from the ‘Never Knew Existed’ school.
04242015 PS Contest, Something Seemingly Insignificant And Unexpected Changed My Life
Copyright © Curtis Johnson | Year Posted 2016
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