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Safety Net



We live in a very insulated society. Like a padded gym floor, our life here in America is designed to soften your fall. Consequences are blunted and it seems very difficult to truly hit rock-bottom. While there is so much danger in this, and great potential individual destruction, there is also a silver lining: for those who are willing, we can take greater risks than any society in the history of the world and still recover to give it another shot or move on to another venture.

Not too long ago, if you took too large of a business risk, you might lose everything, and your family might starve. If you were a farmer a few generations ago and had a single bad harvest, you might lose not only your fields, you might also lose your life. If you were a rancher pushing cattle across the country and misread a looming storm, you might find yourself out in the elements and perish due to exposure.

Such catastrophic loss is rarely seen in our country anymore. While you may lose everything in a business deal gone wrong or go bankrupt because of poor choices or simply bad luck, the risk is rarely fatal. Bruised and beaten up, you will likely have the chance to claw back and try again.

While I am certainly not advocating taking uncalculated risks or foolish gambles, I do see great potential in the lack of finality in failure when venturing out. Society has created a safety net of sorts and technology allows us to make great leaps of faith and still recover when we miss our mark. Like a trapeze artist or a tightrope walker suspended high in the air above a safety net, we should see this unique time in history as an opportunity to attempt daring moves and our most creative performances. Yes, we may fail, and the fall will be painful. It will be uncomfortable, and our pride might be injured, but it won’t be fatal. And we have the choice to climb back up for another performance, hopefully learning from previous mistakes.

Unfortunately, many will look at that same safety net and see a hammock. Instead of a license to dare greatly, they will feel a sense of entitlement to comfort and leisure. And with that perspective, therein lies the more dangerous risks. 

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