When we travel on a mountain road tunnels are inevitable, and the only choice we have is drive through them. We may feel a little uncomfortable or even have your heart beat faster if the tunnel is a few kilometers long and we suffer from claustrophobia, but we have the certainty that in the end, we will get out of it and get back to the light.
However, if we see life as a journey that only ends when we leave this world, we can't enjoy the same certainty. Our paths are not always straight, they may be dusty, full
of twists and turns and even dangerous curves; it's true that we often find ourselves at crossroads and we have the possibility of choosing our paths, but we don't always step on the safest and most reliable road, and sometimes the route we have chosen turns out to contain obstacles that may put us in the dramatic situation of making some tough choices.We may be on such a road, eager to go forward and full of optimism when all of a sudden the mouth of a tunnel may appear in front of us. Unlike drivers on mountain roads, we know nothing of it, we can only assume that once we step into the tunnel, we will reach its end at a certain point, but there are no guarantees. There are no lights in the tunnel and we have no idea what's inside, and we basically have to venture into the unknown and the mysterious.
There may be monsters and all sorts of hideous creatures hiding into the tunnel and waiting for innocent travelers to devour them, or evil spirits feeding themselves from our biggest fears and turning our worst nightmares into the reality. However, there might
also be nothing of this kind, no danger whatsoever, and we might cross the tunnel without any emotions, and when we're out of it, we will realize that we have reached a truly blessed place, full of beauty, light, and peacefulness where we can settle for a while before moving forward in our journey.Basically, when we find ourselves at the entry of a dark, mysterious and only God knows how long tunnel we have to make a tough choice: Shall we play it safe and go back on our path to the last crossroads and then follow a different trail, even if that means wasting a lot of precious time from our existence, or shall we risk it all and step into the tunnel in the hope that our bravery will be rewarded and we will find a shortcut to happiness and not a horrible punishment for our reckless courage?
Light or darkness, hope or despair, happiness or misery may be the consequences of our resolution to enter the tunnel and face the possible perils of this journey into the unknown. It's up to us to choose which way we go; there are no certainties, but if we choose not to enter the tunnel and go back to the crossroads, we may have to live with the regret that we might have missed a huge opportunity to improve our lives. Therefore, if I had to make such a decision, I would probably feel tempted to venture into the unknown, but would I find the strength to actually do it? There is no way of knowing until the moment comes to make that choice!
