TO RISK

This is a poem I’ve kept on my person for quite awhile now. I pull it out and read it every time I start to feel like failure is impending or nothing seems to be happening the way it was planned out. It is a reminder to me that great feats cannot be achieved and no one ever slayed a fire-breathing dragon by staying in bed and throwing the covers over their head. Ask all the BIG GUYS… like The Donald (XD !), Conrad Hilton, Bill Gates, Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, Carmelo Anthony, or David J. Stern (Commissioner for the NBA). It is a reminder to me to simply not give up. – The Castle Lady 

 

 

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.

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 risk 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.

He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, grow, feel,

change ,

love or live.

Chained by his certitudes,

he is a slave,

he has forfeited freedom.

 

Only a person who risks is free.

 

To my good friend Ed Patterson, whom I have neglected for far too long, (being occupied with my own projects) I have a proverb from our good friend, Truman Capote….

          Any work of art, provided it springs from a sincere motivation to further understanding between people, is an act of faith and therefore is an act of love.

 The Castle Lady   Bisou  Bisou