The Devil Made Me Do It

I remember sitting wide-eyed on the floor as a child, a little girl engaged by animation and the screen of a big television. Twenty years later, an array of educational television programs and networks are produced for children. I like to think that although I wasn’t learning Spanish or sign language, the occasional cartoon indulged my imagination and perhaps developed within me a slight sense of humor…and just a hint of dignity.

A particularly vivid cartoon concept remains with me today. It’s not the dropping of an anvil or the endless chase scene. It’s the fork in road—the definitive moment when the character must turn right or left and choose between right and wrong. But my favorite part about the fork in the road was that it was never a hasty decision. It was thoroughly considered with the help of two characters, a devil hovering above the right shoulder and an angel strumming its harp over the left.

With college behind me, and the possibility of new careers, love interests and advanced degrees before me, I sometimes feel like every other step brings me to the inevitable fork in the road. And so often when I can’t decide which turn to take, which career to choose and whom to love—I consult the white-winged and haloed version of myself. Why? Because while the path to success may be lined in accolades, it’s the figurative high road that will truly set me apart.

When “doing the right thing” makes national headlines, I realize the high road is less traveled. But the character that fuels that path is honorable and respectable – and will prepare me for life’s next big intersection. A young child watching cartoons, I was captivated by the morals, the ethics or maybe even the spiritual conviction introduced at the fork in the road. Today, when everything is sensational, dramatic and complicated, I am even more fascinated by making the right turn.

Disclaimer: To claim to be purely angelic would be to vastly exceed the parameters of the little white lie. With a sly smile I’ll admit I often acknowledge and consider the hot pokes and prods of my own pitchfork. Even the high road has potholes.

03-12-08