Taking Risks

We talked about taking risks today in class (hence the title). And now for our assignment we must detail two experiences where we took a risk and didn't take a risk and what the outcome was of each.

I took a risk one day last summer while I was working. Myself and two other guys were washing awnings at a mall because our boss owns the property. We were using a forklift with a platform on it to get up to the awnings so we could scrub them. After scrubbing the had to be rinsed off, but for one of the awnings rinsing it from the platform didn't work all that well. So I wanted to get on the roof and rinse it from above. I had one of the other guys raise the platform to a good level and then leaped from the platform onto the top of the building. It wasn't a long jump, however if for some reason I had missed I would have fallen the 15 or 20 feet to the pavement below and might have hurt myself, possibly badly. However none of this crossed my mind. I just wanted to get onto the rooftop, so that's what I did. I jumped, and I made it (the proof is that I'm here telling you about it). I landed in a puddle on the roof, made from us spraying off the awning, which had combined with the dirt already on the roof to make a quite slippery landing pad. My feet went flying out from under me, and I landed on my back with my right arm twisted underneath myself. I didn't hurt anything however, and was able to spray off the awnings to the complete satisfaction of my OCDness.

Now I can't really remember a time that I was faced with a choice of taking a risk or not and not taking it, but not because I always take risks. No, I don't really ever put myself in situations that are risky or where I might have take a risk, and thus far, my life has been pretty boring.

So, what happens when you take risks? You might fall to your death, hurt yourself, or you just might be able to accomplish everything you've ever wanted to do. And what happens when you don't take risks? You'll never know what would have happened if you had taken a chance.