I’ve written about how great and growing lives are driven by a relentless curiosity, see “Loving Curiosity” and “Of Perspective and Shading” and its value in how we navigate life. True to “Thinking About it” and “Keep it Simple” this musing is about the value of risk taking in one’s life journey.  I have expressed a philosophy that includes truthful self-evaluation, seeing the journey ahead of you from the vantage point of perspective, understanding that clarity is not possible, that life and futures are always shaded.  I encourage decision making based on perspective, but also based on evaluations of options where the fewest of assumptions are necessary to see successful outcome, and yet I’d be remiss if I didn’t add the need for risk taking.  Every day in a life has inherent risks.  We may be prudent, we may seek to avoid failure, and danger, but it is ever present.  Randomness and chance both play a role in our lives, in good ways and in bad.  In a way circumstances are a part of every life that we can either embrace and “Dancing with Circumstance”, or we can spend our days decrying to each other the consequences of circumstance.  So too, our decisions and our path includes always options of relatively greater or lesser safety.  I believe that if we are curious, and investigative, if we are able to see past the risk with perspective, if we keep it simple, and think about it, then we can master too the risks of our lives and world.  All interesting stories involve taking a risk.  As my grandfather used to always say, “take a chance, Columbus did” … I’m sure he meant it in a fun and casual way, but I see those words differently in the passage of time.  Quite possibly it was his way of saying that in all life, in every game of cards, or game of life there are choices and risks.  But there is no great story, there is no great wins, and no great loves without taking a risk; and when you do, do so with passion, and know very well that “Passion is a Dragon”.