“Security is mostly a superstition. It does
not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is
either a daring adventure or nothing.”
These
controversial and often misunderstood words are by Helen Keller, one of the most extraordinary women I have ever
encountered. They speak volumes to her unmatched confidence and her profound
convictions as a person. Born with the dual debilitating conditions of total
deafness and blindness, she, by dint of personal courage and determination,
became one of the most respected persons in the world. She was able to rise
above her profound disabilities, and be recognized around the world as a symbol
of an unrelenting spirit always willing and never afraid to challenge the
establishment on behalf of a variety of social and environmental causes. She
was driven to accomplish all this, not as some people have suggested, as an
overcompensation of her disabilities, but rather as a response to an
indomitable, insatiable adventurous spirit. To her, life itself was the
adventure and she willingly grasped all the challenges that came along as the
fearless matador grabs the horns of the raging bull.
But however much she deserves our respect and our
admiration, her story is neither unique nor uncommon. In fact history, as far
back as records have been kept, is replete with examples of people who have
achieved great success in life by challenging the prevailing status quo and
rising above their expected levels. Even in our own lives, all of us will have
no difficulty in pointing to countless examples of our friends and neighbors
who, in some special way, readily fall into this category and who have achieved
levels of performance far above those anticipated.
They
all fulfill the long accepted rule that in all things in nature, there is no
such thing as a ‘safe level’ and that everything worth achieving in life has some risk. It is
always left up to the individual, and only him, to decide how much he is
willing to risk, and how much reward he is willing to strive for. When the
Jamaican-born, current Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt broke the world record for the 100 meters at the World Games in 2009, he was asked the reason
for his success. He confidently replied, with a sense of relief, “I knew I had to give more than my best!”
The word Adventure
conjures up different images and different ideas in the minds of people.
For the young, it represents an open road with opportunity to experience new
challenges ahead, to face unknown obstacles, and test their own mettle. How
much they accomplish and how far they will travel on that road is totally
dependent on how much they are willing to expend in imagination and effort. To them
the journey is beginning and the ultimate goal is as yet uncertain. But to the
older person whose journey had already begun some time ago, it serves to revive
memories of the opportunities taken and others not taken, and of the successes
or failures that resulted. It also offers a chance to review lessons learnt or
opportunities lost, and if it is not too late, a reminder than the journey is
not yet over and perhaps there is more that can be done before the last chapter
is written in their adventure of life.
But Adventure
should never be restricted only to those unusual or extreme events that we
all undertake from time to time. In fact it more correctly relates to an ‘attitude’ we should all acquire for the
day to day living we undertake, as we travel on our road of life. From any view
one chooses to adopt, life itself is the
adventure, and with it we are afforded the opportunity to do as much as we
please. Everything experienced will clearly influence the individual’s attitude
at the time, which ultimately determines the outcome. Bob Bitchin, the very popular American speaker, author and
adventurer, effectively explained this situation in the following simple but
accurate observation:
“The difference between an adventure
and an ordeal is attitude.”
Every moment of every
day in countless ways, life presents us with opportunities to help us achieve
our dreams; whatever they may be. It
is up to us to grasp the opportunity with both hands and to ride the adventure
to fulfillment. We need only to look around us to see living examples of people
who have done just this, and have then succeeded beyond their own wildest
dreams. People like Walt Disney, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and so many other pioneers who started with an idea to
improve the world, an imagination to search and discover, and above all, the
courage and conviction to stay on the adventure. They were ordinary people with
extraordinary abilities to make use of the opportunities offered, and did so!
But
one does not need to be a Bill Gates or
Steve Jobs to be successful in one’s
endeavor, or to enjoy the adventures that life offers. The young child who
overcomes his fear of falling and finally masters his bicycle and proudly rides
it to school is, in his own way, as happy as Bill Gates can ever be. And
equally, the student who recites the Gettysburg address to the class despite
his tendency to stutter, or the soldier who risks his own life to get to his
wounded colleague, or the firemen who daily face the blazing infernos of forest
fires to save other people’s home, have all lived adventures. The examples are
endless, the reasons are equally endless, as are the decisions taken, but there
is a constant over-riding theme in all these instances: They all start with a commitment to an idea, the courage of conviction
to execute the idea, and a determination to complete the task.
This indeed is the true joy of making full use
of the endless opportunities we have available to us in the adventure of
living. It does not mean that we are always successful nor does it mean that we
are protected in some way from failing. But it does guarantee that life will be
far more rewarding and the experience far more satisfying than choosing to lock
ourselves up, as so many do, in a prison of our own making, avoiding the uncertainties
of the adventure. The price we pay for this action is to my mind unacceptable.
As Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens),
one of America’s
greatest authors, entrepreneurs and lecturers, so effectively commented in the
following observation:
“Twenty years from now, you will be
more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bow lines. Sail away
from safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore, Dream, Discover!”
This advice is as relevant
today as it was when he wrote it so many years ago, but unfortunately however,
despite the passage of all these years and all the examples all around us, many
of us have learnt very little and continue to lock ourselves in our own prisons
of “safety” and end up cheating
ourselves of so much joy and satisfaction that comes only from making our lives
an adventure in living.
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