Taking Risks at the Bookies

I was walking past a Bookies the other day, and I saw a guy walk in to place a bet, but, before he went in, he locked his bicycle up to the railing.

I thought this was a great example of the often-contradictory ways we approach risks and gambling.

The same man that was going in to the bookies to hand over his hard earned money, in the hope of his proverbial horse coming in...locked up his bicycle, securely to the railings. That was obviously a risk he didn't want to take.

This is conjecture, but, there is a good chance that he spends more money gambling on horses, than it would cost to replace the rickety bicycle he locked up, a few times over.

The thought it provoked was about how we often deal with risks in different ways. There are risks we feel that are acceptable, and there are often risks that we take in our lives that create hidden contradictions that we would probably prefer to ignore.

I want to talk about risks and about gambling. We are all gamblers, even the goody-two-shoes out there, and the good living. We are all doing secret little exchanges. These exchanges involve the trading of risks.

Let me explain.

Imagine someone, anyone, and imagine that they are interested in trying something out, but afraid of causing upset to some they care deeply about. This person risks not discovering their own personal satisfaction, and instead, risks living constantly in that fragile thinly iced world, where they feel forever responsible for the feelings of parents or partners.

Imagine someone, anyone, who feels something very strongly about a relationship they are in, but, is terrified of rocking the boat, and upsetting the status-quo if they revealed what they felt to those around them. This person risks not living openly as they are, and instead risks living a life of masks and window dressing.

Do you see what I am getting at?

I am not suggesting that we all go bungy-jumping and backpacking. But, I am suggesting that if bungy-jumping and backpacking are something you have always wanted to do, but you have been afraid of what other people will think because you happen to be a high-powered business executive...then you might want to reconsider the exchange of risks.

Maybe you want to go work with Orang-utans in Borneo. Maybe you want to become an investigative journalist, writing stories that mean something to you. Maybe you want to go dig wells to provide people with uncontaminated drinking water. Maybe you want to quit the job that has been sucking your soul dry for far too long, and try working for yourself. Maybe you want to go see the world. Maybe you want to ask that person out on a date, that person who makes your heart beat faster every time you pass each other in work. Maybe you want to reveal what you really think, and what you really feel to the people you care about. Maybe there is a relationship that is fractured that you would love to heal.

I am not saying that there is any guaranteed outcome to any of these ventures. They are indeed, all ventures, and they are indeed all risks...but, in the exchange of risks, we may want to look at what it is we are risking in return for maintaining the status-quo; what we are risking for maintaining our habits.

Let's not risk living an unsatisfying life. We only have one.

And, as a famous rabbi once said...yada yada yada