Courage Earns Respect
One of the reasons I respect certain people more than I do others are the ones who try and fail rather than those who never take a chance and in a weak way succeed without risk.
Courage has more box office appeal than playing it safe.
We love adventure movies like Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbeans because they take great risks. Sometimes Fail. In the end succeed.
I have a friend who reads this blog who tried running a shop in Warrenville that didn't work out. She closed it and moved on. She tried and tried again. That deserves respect. Never trying deserves nothing.
I have succeeded in life greatly and failed spectacularly. Not everything I put my hand to has been successful. But, some have. For that I am grateful.
My friend Art is owner of a wildflower garden company. Sometimes he talks at length about the deep regret he has for playing it safe when he was younger. Working as an engineer. Working for a good salary, benefits and a pension. Then in his 40's he got hurt. Had to start over. That steady job fell off the edge of the earth.
Today he calls it wasting his life. He took the safe way and now he's in his mid 60s. He is gifted at what he does. It's just that for the bulk of his life he took a salary and now he's regretting those years. He has a case of the if- onlys.
He wishes he would have had the guts to strike off on his own in his 30's. He would have but he feared failure.
I have a neighbor who is a gifted landscape designer. But because he worries about steady income he works in a greenhouse for a salary and benefits. He could make twice as much as a designer and installer. Somehow the idea that a Job is security has invaded his mind. I wish he would ask Art.
I don't understand it. He's wasting his life in a Job and not making the LIFE he should be making. He's not married, he's not in debt, he's young, he should strike out now.
If he strikes out there will be another swing at the ball. Take it from one who has been up to the plate many times, struck out more than I hit, but OH THOSE HOME RUNS!
The sweetness of rounding all the bases far out weighs the bitterness of all those strikeouts.
Batter Up!
2 comments:
My cousin fell off K2 and was lost. A friend lived a life of quiet desperation taking care of his parents. Who are you to say an adrenalin Junkie's life is any better or more complete than the person who stays home and raised their children.
Living a good life is more important than living a risky life.
Any one can run in front of an on coming freight train but that doesn't make life worth while.... Each individual has to make that decision... no one can make it for them. There are all types of people to admire in this world and we need all kinds of people to make living life worth while....both risk adverse and risk takers.
it is one thing to admire someone for what they have done or tried to do, but it is quite another to admonish someone for failing to do what you think they should. again, arrogant to think you know what is best for every other person.
and perhaps you should rethink the personal details you see fit to reveal in your public forum. not all of us are comfortable with your take on our lives.
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