ARTICLE By MATT DESTRY | Wednesday, 29 September 2010
We live in an era of safety. Safe playgrounds, safe sex, safe cars and safety vests. Comparatively, we're living in the safest world ever. We're more aware of danger, and have the technology to protect us from it. We're more aware of risk, and can take the necessary precautions. But maybe it's all insulation and anaesthetic.
We're also more scared than we've ever been. More prone to hit the 'panic button'. We're less bold, more afraid, less courageous, more timid, less adventurous, more... safe. Insurances are through the roof, you can buy an air bag for your backside, CCTV to watch your newborn at every moment, we never talk to strangers, and most important news stories from around the world are deemed 'too offensive for some viewers' (while objectification of women and sex-marketing is good for everyone - go figure).
Don't get me wrong, safety is good. I like being safe, and I appreciate technological advances that lower infant mortality, alleviate cancer, and stop speeding motorcycles. Given the choice, I would choose a car with side-impact-protection over one that doesn't. I'll always fly in a plane equipped with life rafts and parachutes over one that doesn't. That's not the problem. The problem is with our infatuation with safety. It's killing us. Our love of protection makes us lazy, slow, scared, and unwilling to risk anything, ever. So freaked out about the world around us, we sink into a couch and watch someone else live their life, rather than let courage and intrepidity shake the foundation of our insecurities.
There's a myth that needs to be busted. That myth is that if you play it safe, you'll be ok. That the one who lives prudently will end their life with cards in hand and chips in the bank. But it's just not so. One walk through a graveyard will tell you that life is not safe. We cannot be insulated forever. The anaesthetic, no matter how strong, still wears off, and when it does, we're found naked and ashamed, haunted not by the bad things we've done, but the good things we didn't do. Our dreams will be our judges.
In order to succeed you've got to take a risk. Go "all in", and give something a red-hot-go. We've got to "let the dead bury their own dead" and live for purposes higher than our own comfort. Be willing to fail gloriously - because in that moment we realise that life is greater than us, greater than our fears, greater than our egos, greater than our insecurities. Moments of brilliance do not come by those who never venture out of themselves. If success was all about the win, it wouldn't mean much, but then every now and then we watch someone rise above failure, and grab some rare air. It all starts with risk, an unwillingness to acquiesce to fear, and a willingness to fail gloriously.