Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Risk Taking 101




 Please read the following poem and  Respond/ React/Reflect
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"To 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 feelings 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 to risk failure,
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing,
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love....live.
Chained by his certitude's, he is a slave;
He has forfeited freedom,
Only a person who risks is free.

-
William Arthur Ward


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 *** Consider making a text connection (self, world, or text).  I'm giving you some academic freedom with your response.  That is why I have NOT listed a plethora of directions =]  

22 comments:

  1. i think that this poem is very true, i think that in order to experience anything exciting there must be some sort of risk taken.I've heard the quote "The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing," already (I think in this class) and i agree with that.

    - Unique B.

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  2. He was right I believe. If you don't risk anything what do you have to live for? What have you accomplished in life? Who is it that you care for and why do you care?

    To live without risk is to be without life.
    -My Mom with a little twist.

    ~Talisyanna W

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  3. I really like this poem, I like it because it's speaking the truth && nothing but, the truth. You have to take risks or your life is going to be dull && boring && lame && your nothing like William Arthur said. Overall this poem is good && insperational.

    - Tomei W.

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  4. I truly agree with this poem for many reasons. One reason is because the poem speaks the truth about taking risks. I learned that is you don't take chances with your life you will never learn from your mistakes. In the poem William A. Ward said "The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing." This is really true because when you don't takes risks your doing nothing useful with your life.

    Tahjaye Allen

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  5. I think that this poem means that everything you do means something and you do the things you do in order to live freely and happily. you do what you love to do without care of being "the fool". You cry to be vulnerable . you do everything for a reason and every cause has an effect .




    Chantel D.

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  6. Amazing. Whenever I thought about taking risks, all I could think of was doing dangerous things, until now. Reading things poem made me realize that taking risks is not all about doing dangerous things. But pretty much everything you do is taking a risk, because whatever you do always has consequences, some you like, some you don't. So thinking about it, I find the poem true.

    Alphonse M.

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  7. this is true you have to risk something to live, learn, and success. as William Arthur Ward said "The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing,
    He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love....live."

    werdi mugaya

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  8. I love this poem! It is very true, people are scared to take risks and be themselves because of what others may think and the things that they might say about it. And people that don't take risks are "chained." They are stuck inside their own little bubble, scared to burst out and be themselves because they don't want to be judged, or criticized. They want to just fit in so bad that they won't laugh when they think things are funny because their friends don't, or they won't reach out to help someone because they don't want to be laughed at by their "friends," if those people were really their friends they would help them to break out and be themselves! There is just so much truth to this poem, once again I'm saying that i LOVE this poem! :)

    - Breeonna G.

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  9. I agree with this poem because it also goes with the quote "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"or "practice makes perfect" this poem discusses about how if you're not able to ever take risk to gain something, than you'll be nothing and would also have nothing. because you would have nothing to lose and nothing to gain!

    Pierrot.R

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  10. He was quite correct. Living without risk isn't just a horrible way to live. It's not living at all.

    Brianna G.

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  11. I love this poem. It has inspired me alot and it's very true. I got to admit I'm a person who's afraid to take risks because I sress so much about the effect of my risk taking to result in being dangerous,wrong, and foolish, but after reading this poem i've realized that i'm missing out alot by not taking risks, because no matter what the consequance of risk taking is you always gain because you'll either achieve or learn. So I say go head take risks beacause you never know untill you try.................. Zeytun Aden

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  12. I love this poem. It has inspierd me alot. I gotta admit I'm a person who's afraid of taking risks because I stress so much about the effect of my risk to result in being dangerous, wrong or foolish, but after reading this poem i've realized i;m missing out alot by not taking risk because no matter what the consequance of taking a risk maybe you'll always gain because you either achieve or learn. So now I say go head take risks, because you'll never know untill you try......... zeytun Aden

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  13. I think this poem is straight to the point. This poem is right about how you to take risks or it no use living. Risks are meant to be taken in order to learn experince. I believe one must take risks in order to live life to the fullest. When the poem says "To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self" is the one line i like the most because it is something i see all the time. People are afraid to act their normal self and put on a mask in school and acted fake. When people do that they have to stay that way for ever until they gradute.

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  14. This poem describes how taking risks is a part of every aspect of life, and is central to living a life of freedom and happiness. Taking a risk can be something simple like expressing your honest opinion or something huge and life changing like moving out or going to college. Either way, it can sometimes be terrifying. But without these leaps of faith, you can not hope to achieve or experience anything worth while. Risk taking is needed to help people move forward in life. A text to text connection is Montag's enormous risk of reading books in a time and place where this could get him killed. By doing so, he frees himself from the constraints of his society and is able to start a new life for himself.

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  15. In order for someone to truly fulfill life is to take risk. Without taking a chance many opportunities in life fade away and can never be redone. for every chance you take their could be a negative a positive reation, without knowing what either is only limits you from that experience

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  16. risks are never taken without courage and courage is the backbones glue.your greatest risk can be your greatest accomplishment or your greatest failure. it all depends on which risk you chose to take.

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  17. I think the poem itself explains everything clearly and is very true. We should always risk to achieve something. I also believe that a person who risks nothing does nothing in his life. I like this poem. It's real and is very easy to understand. It inspired me a lot.

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  18. Muna

    This is one of my favorite poems and I greatly agree with the poem. One of my favorite lines from this poem is "To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self,
    To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss."
    I believe that this means that if you can't express yourself and be yourself then who are you going to be what others want you to be? If you spend your whole life not being true to yourself your not living. Don't be afraid to express yourself and who you are dream hard and take a risk because if you not only are you not taking a chance and believing in your self it's their loss too.

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  19. It's saying that if you want to be happy and free then you have to risk something for it. With everything you do you are taking a risk. If you eat you can choke and die, if you walk you can trip and be injured, but you have to take risks to live.

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  20. I Think This Poem is Saying If You Have nothing To risk You have nothing to Lose or win . I could relate to this because it sounds like life its self Which made for mistake and happiness and you would never know until you risk nothing for everything . People go through life without living life , people fall in love to take a chance in them loving them back or not having the same mutual feeling an thats risking something You could never Fall If You never jumped , an i Believe this poem is telling you to jump because the outcome is so much better than to wonder . Life is to short to continue to live the same life . If You Keep Things Inside how would You know if anyone feel the same way you do . ?? If you don't risk asking . God put Task in our lives and he also Put options and rather you pick the safe side or the life changing side you always Have an option to change your life .

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  21. I agree with this poem 100%. I believe that taking risks is the only way you learn. Everyone learns from their mistakes. Babies learn how to walk by falling down. Toddlers learn to say their ABC's by messing up and starting over. Teens learn how to comprehend things that seem confusing by being determined. From the first day of our lives until the day we die we will have all taken risks and learned from them. To not be risky is to not be humane.

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  22. I feel as though this poem accurately, if not perfectly, depicts the effects of taking risks. Those who do not expose themselves to "risks of the world" will not reap it's benefits. The experience rewarded to those who "put themselves on the line" is essential to building character and life experience, similar to how learning from your mistakes provides the knowledge to not repeat them.

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