The Dignity of Risk: A Poem

What if you never got to make a mistake?

What if your money was always kept in an envelope where you couldn’t get it?

What if you were never given a chance to do well at something?

What if you were always treated like a child?

What if your only chance to be with people different from you was with your own family?

What if the job you did was not useful?

What if you never got to make a decision?

What if the only risky thing you could do was to act out?

What if you couldn’t go outside because the last time you did it rained?

What if you took the wrong bus once and now you aren’t allowed to take another one?

What if you got into trouble and were sent away, and couldn’t come back because they always remember your “trouble”?

What if you worked and you got 46 cents an hour?

What if you had to wear your winter coat when it rained because it was all you had?

What if you had no privacy?

What if you could do part of the grocery shopping, but weren’t allowed to do any because you weren’t able to do all the shopping?

What if you spent three hours of every day just waiting?

What if you grew old and never knew adulthood?

What if you never got a chance?

-Author Unknown