Gone
So that troubled time continued, woe
that never stopped, steady affliction
for Halfdane's son, too hard an ordeal.
There was panic after dark, people endured
raids in the night, riven by the terror.
Beowulf, p. 15, Seamus Heaney
There is always risk.
Walking can be risky. I walked up two steps a few days ago, fell and banged my knee. It still hurts.
Driving can be risky. Cathy took a curve too fast on New Years Day and lost control, damaging her car. Yesterday she was on her way to return her rental car, stopped at a stop sign, almost started up but thought better of it when she saw how fast a truck was bearing down on her, then got rammed from behind by a driver who thought both of them could have beaten the truck. The other car actually drove up over the rear end of Cathy's rental car and ended up beside her.
Some activities are unforgiving. Skateboarding is one, there is a very long list that includes driving high performance motorcycles and race cars, and all forms of flying are near the top of the list. Travelling outside of the atmosphere, whether under water or into space, are also high on the list.
High risk activities often bring high rewards. Sometimes just defying the odds is the reward.
Achilles died at his prime. Agamemnon lived well past his prime and died a bitter old man.
Comments (4)
There is no such thing as safe.
If you'll allow me to butcher a famous poem... It is better to have lived and lost than never to have lived at all.
Life is about risk. Nothing good comes without it.
Fabulously witty and so true! Thanks for the "head's up" in your comments to me,too. Back to your blog... I just caught the opening of Jay Leno's monologue tonight and was surprised, in a good way, that he had a humorous way of helping us think critically of the dramatic presentation by Colin Powell at the UN today. I was not expecting Jay to take that risk.
Comments are closed.