Risk

Okay, I read this poem on a giant greeting card when I was about 14 and loved it. I recently saw it on someone else's blog, and want to share. (In looking for the author, I found about 30 different versions of it and just as many authors, so there's no reference here).

RISKS
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
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 at all is to risk failure.
But risk we must, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
Those who risk nothing do nothing, have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Only a person who risks is free.