RISK

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 expose feelings 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 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 simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love and live.

Chained by their certitudes they are a slave.
They have forfeited freedom.
Only a person who risks is truly free.
The greatest risk is to risk nothing at all.

Postcript: We can’t seem to locate the official documentation clarifying exactly who wrote this powerful piece. It has been attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, T.S. Eliot and Dr. Earl Reun. These Museologists are willing to accept the idea of a collaboration through time and space….because, after all…imagination, inspiration and creativity are timeless.