To Risk...

A poem.

Unknown. 

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.

To expose feeling is to risk exposing your true self,

To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss.

 

To love is to risk not being loved in return,

To live is to risk dying,

To hope is to risk despair,

To try is to risk failure.

 

But risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard in

life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has

nothing, and is nothing.

We may avoid suffering and sorrow, but we simply

cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.

Chained by our certitudes, we are slaves, we have

forfeited our freedom.

Only a person who risks . .. is free.

—Author Unknown