RISK

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk being called sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To expose feeling is to expose your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before the crowd is to risk being called naive.
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 risk in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing do nothing,
Have nothing, are nothing and become nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow.
But they simply can not learn to feel,
And change and grow and love and live.
Chained to their servitude, they are slaves;
They have forfeited their freedom.
Only the people who risk are truly free.