going other ways- epiphany en route

So today, the bus I was riding and have ridden since I was a very small child did the absolutely bizarre for the first time: it turned another direction. Yes, it eventually got back on track and continued down Jamaica Ave like it usually does, but at first I wasn't sure whether I had gotten on a completely different bus. I desperately desired to shout at the bus driver "Stop! Where are you going? Go the normal way, friend!", but I did not because I "wisely" guessed that since the route number was what it was on the front, I had best keep quiet and let the driver do his job to get us where we needed to go at a faster pace. By trusting him, we did end up getting there much faster than if we had stayed in traffic like most drivers would have. I realized that this driver amongst all drivers realized that above all things, a bus is a vehicle. It can go wherever you want, and invariably, it can also get back on track. 

Epiphany moment: if everyone in the world realized that there were other ways to get to the same point, then everyone would get where they wanted to go much faster. 

This is really relevant to my life right now, particularly in finding a successful career, which indubitably leads to a successful life, as the world knows. Many people assume that the first, best, and only way to be successful is to go to Ivies and get big-shot jobs. Now, I'm not knocking the success of the Ivies, but I am saying that not everyone is going to get into Stanford or Harvard or Yale. It's mathematically impossible. Sometimes, we have to get creative. Sometimes, we have to think about other places that can help enrich our lives and help us achieve our goals. If your goal is to go to an Ivy simply because you like Ivies, hey, have fun. But don't apply with it as your only choices; don't think that if you don't get in, the world will stop, because it won't, and you will be left picking up the pieces with no other game plan.

It's like the SAT problem I was doing today. It asked how many different ways could one get to point C without touching A or B. I only saw the two obvious wide-berth answers, but a friend pointed out to me that there were also two more that brought you closer to the point you weren't supposed to be, but then veered away.

Mini-epiphany: If everyone realized that approaching the not-goal is not failure, but another way to get to the goal,
A. A lot more people would be a lot better at math

B. People would not spending their lives getting the wrong answer.

Wrong answer, how so? As in, when one plugs in the right numbers into the equation, and you're still getting ø. Why does that happen? Did you consider the limit? Or did you continuously try to get to infinity without approaching zero? Sometimes, life is like that, man. You have to take the chance sometimes. You can't always approach your goals the clean way. Besides, you have better stories for your grandkids when you can tell them how crazy your life was when you were working hard to get where you wanted to go.

Well, the epiphany was nice. I guess it's time for me to use this epiphany in conjunction with the leaves and get on with my life.