Nothing to Lose

I’ve come to the conclusion that there really is very little “to lose” in life apart from health, happiness, and the people you love.  I participated in a fascinating discussion on risk the other day, and the interpretation of risk that kicked off the whole debate was essentially that risk is bullshit.  The truth is that in life there is simply choice and consequence.  I loved the perspective; it so jives with my own!

That got me thinking about why we fixate on risk.  It’s my opinion that we fixate so much on risk because risk is a way to justify our not choosing to do something outside of the status quo.  Status quo is neither good nor bad.  However, status quo can also be a trap, a way of not upsetting the “devil you know” in lieu of “the devil you don’t.”  By assessing risk, we find ways of avoiding a choice that might lead us down the path to a consequence that we really don’t like.  It’s fear.  It’s fear of winding up with something “worse” that we currently have, for example.  No matter how you spin it, I think it’s still fear.

In 1776, a bunch of British subjects decided that they’d had enough of living their lives as second-class citizens.  So, they got a bunch of people to buy into their underground rebellion and declared independence from their would-be oppressors.  The rest is history, as they say.  History is filled with moments where one person or a small group of people make a choice that has profound consequences for the course of a nation’s history.  Like that Continental Congress tipping over into open rebellion and signing a Declaration of Independence.  Their was no scientific measurement of risk; there was debate about the consequences of their actions.  Then, they chose.  They chose a course and lived with the consequences, fear be damned.  Perhaps not all of us can or will have such a profound effect on the course of human history, but maybe, just maybe, there is a lesson to be learned here about having the courage to make choices and live with them without becoming paralyzed with fear of what might or might not be.  

Besides, there is nothing to lose that God or the Universe cannot return to us.