Threat assessment

MICHELLE: I read somewhere that to expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. Nothing is ever certain. Everything is a risk. To live is to risk dying, to hope is to risk despair, to try is to risk failure; to love is to risk not being loved in return. So why then do we still risk?

DJ: Because risk can be fun. I’m a risk-taker. It adds contrast to our every day life. It is sad some people think of it as something to be feared. It is cool to embrace the unknown, discover new things, people, and places and in the process discover more of ourselves. We’ll never know our reach if we do not go the distance. Sure it’s convenient to remain in our comfort zones where we are spared from the possible hurt that goes with trying. But we’ll never experience life in its fullness. Life is beautiful with its ups and downs!

M: There is a quote that I find very striking: “The greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live. Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom. Only a person who risks is free.” If we risk, we are free.

DJ: I was hospitalized several years ago and needed a change of clothes. When my then gf checked the shirts I had on stock, she discovered that they were all dark blue! Among the many things I learned that day is there are colors I can wear other than blue. Quite a petty discovery but it goes a long way if I apply the principle in certain aspects of my life.

It is said that at times we need to lose sight of the shore to see the grandeur of the ocean. That’s why I tried diving even if I don’t know how to swim! When I went to Lourdes, France, I drank from the fountain while a friend held on to her bottled water. She warned me that I might have a bad stomach.

I replied wouldn’t it be ironic if I’d ended up with an upset stomach for drinking the same water people came for healing. Moral of the story? Taking risks is at times taking a leap of faith!

M: No wonder you now wear purple and pink! Just kidding! As they say, look before you leap. Of course we want to be safe and secure but as a knight in the movie Kingdom of Heaven replied when told that he would meet a certain death in the battlefield, he said, “all death is certain.”
Every day we risk living. So let us live life to the full. Nothing is ever assured of us here in this lifetime except that if we do good, we will be assured of our place in heaven.

D: It’s never easy to risk the unknown but at certain points in our lives, we just know that it is time to leave and move on. Wherever we are and whatever we do, risk is always a factor and we need to learn to occasionally jump into the deep end, head first.

What’s important is that we are sure of ourselves before doing so and we shouldn’t give up taking risks because of someone else’s doubts. Let’s cherish each surprise waiting to happen. Life is a matter of the risks we take and the choices we make.

(ssinglestalk@yahoo.com)