risk

I read this this morning:

Conservative historians describe any man with a passion for greatness as a magalomaniac. "Look at him," they say to on another, "the idiot! Why doesn't he settle down and establish himself in the community? Why is he forever trying to get something beyond him? The man is crazy."
These conservatives are partly right. Play life safe and you will keep out of harm. Be careful, be cautious, don't take risks and you will never die on Mount St.Helens. Your failure is measured by your aspirations. Aspire not, and you cannot fail. Columbus died in chains. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Let us all live snugly without risk, and life will soon be little more than a thick gelatinous stream of comfortability and ignorance.

To live without risk is to risk not living.

-The Signature of Jesus