This poem was included in a pack designed to help parents of children with identified special educational needs understand how important it is to allow them to take risks. It could therefore be a way to talk about the PB strategy of 'risking on purpose' and include a discussion about the differences between 'responsibility to' and 'responsibility for', which could in turn lead to a conversation about a person's ability to respond
Risk
To laugh is to risk being a fool
To weep is to risk being sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To show feelings is to risk showing yourself
To place your ideas, your dreams
Before a 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 risks must be taken because the greatest
Hazard in life is to risk nothing
Those who risk nothing, have nothing
They may avoid suffering and sorrow
But they cannot learn, feel, change
Grow, love, live
Chained by their certainties, they are slaves
They have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks .......... is truly free.
Anon
