Risk. It is something we face everyday. Personally,
privately, professionally. We are constantly faced with choices. Do we take the
safe, politically correct way? Or do we take a chance and maybe do something unconventional,
something that society would deem as too risky.
This week the world lost a very talented reporter in Michael
Hastings and he was a man who took risks. He devoted his whole life to journalism
and he knew that it was his duty to share the information he obtained with the
public and he did so without fear of social norms and breaking unsaid “rules”
of convention. He took risks professionally. He was the true embodiment of a
reporter, up there with greats like Woodward and Bernstein.
People like this encourage us to take risks.
Too many times we are all so scared of the repercussions
that we forget to live. We forget that without risk there is no gain.
Professionally, you have to have to courage to speak up. You
have to be brave enough to make your ideas and opinions heard. If you see some
sort of injustice or notice something that just doesn't seem right, say
something! You are not helping anyone by remaining silent.
Now I know what you are probably thinking, that if you say something
you are risking your job, if you go against the establishment you are risking
your livelihood and any chance of advancing. To some extent this is true. That
is why you have to go about it the right way.
This was embodied in the recent NSA scandal. Now, I
personally view Snowden as an amazing brave man who saw an injustice and stood
up against it. He spoke out. He didn't care that he was risking his job and prospects.
He just went for it. Now the way he went about it may be questionable, but at
least he said something. He didn't let himself become sucked into being an unfeeling,
uncaring, dull, brainwashed Washington drone. He kept his wits about him and
said “This is wrong and people should know”
As for personally, people are never brave enough to take a
chance. They delicately skirt around relationships. They never go deep. They
are too scared of getting hurt or falling to hard or being betrayed, so they
just don’t form relationships.
I notice it all the time at my school. Everyone is so afraid
of offending someone or getting burned in a relationship that it takes at least
six months to break anyone’s hard exterior. (Bri and I are apparently the
exception to this…or we just have amazing friends. People seem incredibly
comfortable around both of us. I have been told that it is our open
personalities, quick laughs, wit and the warmth we radiate…but everyone has the
capacity for this, so for goodness sakes do it!)
If you never take risks in your relationships you are risking
the loss of great friends and experiences. Why close yourself off to people and
the emotion that comes with going deep into a relationship just because you don’t
want to become attached. Excuse me? Isn't being attached one of the best parts
of being a human? We can have these amazing relationships where we can say
anything without risk of the person never talking to us again because we have
become attached to their soul.
Whether we like it or not, they've got us. We cannot get rid
of them and we are constantly reminded of them. Through songs, objects, things
that make us smile. You know that you have a connection with a person like this
when you do something or see something and you cannot wait to tell them about
it. Or how it feels like part of your life is missing when you cannot talk to
them.
So, point. I always like to have a point at the end of posts
like this.
Take risks! For goodness sakes! You will never know what you
are missing out on if you don’t take risks. Take random road trips just for
fun. Go out on a limb and say what you want to for a change, not what you
should say. Stop being politically correct for a while. We don’t need to walk on
eggshells around everyone. Go deep in your relationships. Attach your soul to
other people’s. Do something that you know is right even though the establishment
says it is wrong, because chances are…the establishment knows that it is right
too. Do something out of pure duty and nothing else. Follow your heart instead
of your mind for once.
And for the record. No, this is not something that I am
going to grow out of.
No comments:
Post a Comment