TO LAUGH

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, 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 certitudes, they are slaves,
they have forfeited freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.