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 feeling is to risk exposing your true self.

To place your ideas and 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;
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they simply cannot learn,
feel change, grow, love, Live
Chained by their certitude, they are a slave,
they have forfeited freedom;
Only the person who risks is free.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

You never know when someone
might catch a dream from you.

Or something you say may open up the windows
of a mind that seeks light;

The way you live may not matter at all,
But you never know, it might.

And just in case it could be
that another's life, through you,

might possibly change for the better
with a better and brighter view,

it seems it might be worth a try
at pointing the way to the right;

Of course, it may not matter at all,
but then again, it might.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

DreamTemplate

Starry Night, c.1889