Does Risk Really Equal Reward? Only If You Redefine "Risk"

Life is full of contradictions.

Take the very premise that America was built on: Fearless determination, courage, imagination, and nothing more than a dream mixed with a pocketful of hope.

America was built on the backs of the stubborn, the tenacious, the rebellious – those who would not accept no for an answer.

They started with a belief.

From that belief grew a vision.

And from that vision grew this country.

Thereafter, the cycle continues to repeat itself: This country continues to develop and refine its beliefs, which turn into visions, which forevermore keep our society in a perpetual stage of growth. Though, the word growth might do better to be placed within a set of quotation marks.

However, while on the surface it seems that our core values remain the same – namely that of risk and reward – we are no longer the same, and what constitutes risk and what constitutes reward are no longer the same, either. The modern day definitions are a watered down version of their historical counterparts, therefore producing a watered down society–one that can no longer differentiate between his/her own beliefs and those of the crowd, and one that will punish the person who does, in fact, notice a contrast and attempts to act on it.

These days, you aren't rewarded for risk – you're rewarded for complacency.

It's evident that while we may preach risk, we really value safety.

However, just because society may not place a high value on risk–REAL risk–as evidenced by the fearful, robotic masses, that isn't to say that we shouldn't.

The reason is this:

Only those who go too far will ever know exactly how far they can go.

Think about it.