Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental,

To reach out to another 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 the risk must be taken,

Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, is nothing.

He may avoid suffering, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.

Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave.

He has forfeited freedom.

Only a person who risks is free