“It takes courage… We have to choose between risk and risk.”

       – Brother David Steindl-Rast

Whether in investing or life, we like to pretend that risk comes with a choice. And it does, kind of. But it’s not a choice of whether, it’s a choice of type.

Brother David elaborates:

There is no limit to wakefulness, just as there is no limit to aliveness.  It takes courage… We have to choose between risk and risk. We run the risk of sleeping through life, of never waking up at all. Or else we wakefully rise to the risk of life, facing the challenge of life or love.

If we choose the “risk free” option, it just means we’re shifting from one risk to another. A money market fund has near-zero risk of loss, but it carries with it the risk of near-zero gains as well. A career spent in a risk free job carries the risk of boredom. A risk-free social life carries the risk of endless what-ifs.

Dear Honeybees, whatever we choose today, it will be a risk.

Let’s choose the risk that’s worth taking.

     * This passage can be found in Brother David’s Essential Writings and in Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer.