*

* * *

.

To laugh is to risk

appearing the fool.

.

To weep is to risk

appearing sentimental.

.

To reach out to another

is to risk involvement.

.

To expose feelings

is to risk exposing your

true self.

.

To place your ideas

and dreams before a crowd

is to risk their loss.

.

To love is to risk

not being loved in return.

.

To hope is to risk

despair.

.

To try is to risk

failure.

.

But risks must be taken.

.

 Because the greatest

risk in life is

to risk nothing.

.

The person who risks nothing

does nothing, has nothing,

is nothing.

.

He may avoid

suffering and sorrow,

but he cannot learn,

feel, change, grow,

or live.

.

Chained by his certitude,

he is a slave who has forfeited

all freedom.

.

Only the person who risks

is free.

.

   ~ William Arthur Ward

.

* * *

Guess:

.

Dismissed from drama school with a note that said “Wasting her time.  She’s too shy to put her best foot forward.”

*

*

Cut from the high school basketball team, he went home, locked himself in his room, and cried.

*

*

A teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything, and he should go into a field where he might succeed by virtue of his pleasant pesonality.

*

*

His fiancee died, he failed in business twice, he had a nervous breakdown, and he was defeated in eight elections.

..

~ From Life = risk (1:19).