Taking Chances

Although we don't think about it on a daily basis, life is one HUGE  chance. Every time we get out of bed, drive on a highway, take an elevator or cross the street, we are taking a chance. However, as normal citizens we don't have much choice if we want to live and grow in our society. Because we have to make so many choices that put us at risk, we only think about the dangers when we choose to do something out of the ordinary.

 Dan Brown in his latest book INFERNO suggests that our minds negate realities that produce too much stress for our brains to handle. He calls it 'denial' and says without it we would wake up each day terrified. So we just focus on the normal stresses in our life. I guess that explains how very intelligent people can still smoke! Their brain denies the existence of scientific evidence that smoking might kill some people.

 And yet, if we really hope to have a happy and interesting life, we need to step out of our comfort zone from time to time. For example, buy a house, get married, quit a boring job, change religions, serve in the armed forces, climb a mountain or even sail a small boat across the Atlantic Ocean! Piercing the dome of everyday living generates a much deeper and fulfilling experience. In some cultures people hope taking an exciting vacation will accomplish the same thing.

I mentioned in my last blog how surprised I was when so many people thought that the sailors rescued from the disabled sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean must be - to quote them "crazy". I am not comparing them to people like Sir Edmond Hillary who, sixty years ago, he and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay reached the peak of Mount Everest for the first time. But I have to ask "Were they crazy?" And how about our Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, who recently taught us so much about our tiny planet with his splendid photos. Do you have to be crazy to be an astronaut? Then there was Amelia Earhart, currently in the news, who was attempting to circumnavigate the globe in her plane! Or even Dr. Henry Morgentaler who recently died at the age of ninety. You might not agree with some of their accomplishments, but you must recognize their courage and determination. There are chances we all must take in order to move ahead. There are people who take exceptional chances, and some of them we consider heroes. Then there are those who risk stepping out of their tight little box to discover how truly wonderful the world can be.  I don't think any of them are "crazy".

There are probably many reasons we hesitate when it comes to taking a chance. We are afraid we might fail, we may lose face or even die. Or it just might be we will make a mistake. Many of our politicians these days are learning how difficult it is to admit to a mistake! How simple it would be to simply say, "I was wrong, but I learned an important lesson for the future."

 Winston Churchill said, "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." How many of us started to learn an instrument, set out to enjoy a new sport, or thought yoga or Tai Chi  would be a good thing, only to quit when the going got tough.

Years ago, as a faculty member at Wayne State University in Detroit, the course I taught was designed to assist students develop self confidence and eventually move into leadership positions. Sometimes, the going got tough as when a student was challenged to take greater responsibility for his or her own actions, they chose to drop out of class. Blaming others, especially if they believe it has worked in the past, was easier than taking charge of themselves.

There are many ways of dropping out - by not voting, not looking for opportunities to do more than the mere minimum (it's not in my job description!), letting George do it, or simply not being interested in anything but the status quo. If their life seems dull and repetitive to them, it's their own damn fault.

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week.