Risk

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 feeling is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before the 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 risk to failure.
But risks must be taken because
    the greatest hazard is to risk nothing.
Those who risk nothing,
    do nothing, have nothing,
    and are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
    but they simply cannot learn,
    feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their own fears, they are slaves;
They have forfeited freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

— Author unknown

Unhappy the Land That Has No Heroes

Steve at Catholicism, Spirituality & Holiness posted the following quote:

“Unhappy the land that has no heroes,” says a character in a Bertolt Brecht play. “No,” replies another. “Unhappy the land that needs heroes.” It’s time to bring management and leadership back down to earth.

— Henry Mintzberg, Harvard Business Review, Nov 2004

Now, I am no where near qualified to be published in the Harvard Business Review, but this quote is typical of our postmodern world’s skepticism and rigid extreme individualism. A postmodern world that does hold virtue and humilty in very high esteem either.

I do not remember where I heard this story, but some student was interviewing several people about their heroes for some class. He went to this one older person whom he respected and asked him who were his heroes.

The man replied, “Well. I think I am probably like most other people. I have lots of heroes. First off, there is my father because…. I had this one uncle….” And went on describing several other people.

The student smiled through the whole interview. At the end, the man asked him how did he compare with the other people he had interviewed. The student replied, “You have are the last one on my list. And you were the only one to tell me about your heroes. No one else seemes to have any.”

It seems to me that a certain measure of humilty is required to have a hero. Do you have any?

Barbers Do Not Exists

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: “I don’t believe that God exists.”

“Why do you say that?” asked the customer.

“Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn’t
exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would
there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things.”

The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.

The customer turned back and entered the barbershop again and he said to the barber, “You know what? Barbers do not exist.”

“How can you say that?” asked the surprised barber. “Here I am, and I am a
barber. And I just worked on you!”

“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.”

“Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me.”

“Exactly!” affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens is, people don’t go to Him and do not look for Him. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.”

— Author unknown

Can I Get a Bird?

My oldest child, a senior at the high school where I teach, sent me an email this afternoon asking me if she could get a bird, this bird in particular:

[Lilac-breasted Roller]

My first reaction was that the photo was a fake. But no, it is a real bird (although this one is a little more plump than most). It is called a Liliac-breasted Roller (Coracias caudata). It is native to mid-to-southern Africa. It is the national bird of Zimbabwe.

What a beautiful bird!

Not Because the Sin was Too Big

None of the damned was ever lost because his sin was too great, but because his trust was too small!

— Blessed Fr. Francis Seelos

I heard this quote on a talk radio show today. It says two things to me:

  1. No sin is too big for God to forgive. Let that sink deep into your soul—No sin is too big for God. This is regardless of anything you have done. God will forgive you if you ask. There is nothing anyone can do or say if you do not believe that in your heart.

  2. Trust too small—The lack of trust is based on fear. Any type of fear is something that separates us from God and from others. I am not talking about fear of hell. Just plain fear of any kind.