Taking Risks

Be careful who you hurt. I meet more and more scarred people who are afraid to take leaps of faith because they have fallen before. They tend to stay with what they know and where they are safe instead of risking what it takes to find what could really make them happy. I guess I can be like that sometimes too. The older we get, the more it happens. I don't know if I agree with the saying that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Most people look at 16 year olds who are madly in love and call them naive. In some ways, I think we are just jealous. I reread some of the old love letters I wrote Tom when I was 17, and I wish I could give of myself so freely now and maintain that complete absence of doubt.

We all like to think that our actions could never permanently damage the life of another. We are wrong. Yes, people can learn from being hurt, but I don't think getting hurt is actually healthy for any of us. The loss of hope is the nearest to death. Broken promises can be worse than physical harm. We all need to be careful with the hearts that we affect. None of us are perfect, but that is no excuse to be frivolous.