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 dreams, ideas before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is 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 risks 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.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by their certitudes, they are a slave: they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is truly free.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
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7 comments:
I have been looking for this poem for years. I got it from a dear friend in 2000, but lost it. Thanks, this is great!!!
Danie
I received this poem from my old headmaster when I left Primary School back in 1990!!!
my mother wrote this poem when she was fifteen. She didn't think it was a big deal.
Thanks for posting "Risk" Jorge, nice website, I'll use it for inspiration when I post my own. Bye for now,
a stranger named CHRISTIAN
I have just looked at this poem after reading Ben Fogle's comment after an interview with a newspaper. It is indeed a great piece of wisdom and more people should follow it. You do put yourself out there when you take a risk. It is scary but ultimately more fulfilling.
I received this poem in the 9th grade. (1995) I've been looking for the full version everywhere. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. I got it from an Outward Bound School camp in 1993, too, and I've almost memorized it. It is astonishingly powerful!
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