Life is the Best Teacher
The world is full of risky situations. We encounter them every single day. Every choice we make involves an element of risk. We wake up, get out of bed and go to the bathroom. We could fall, slip, bump into something or fall down the stairs. We usually don't.
We make breakfast. We could spill something, slip, fall, hit our head and die. We could burn ourselves on the stove. We could poison ourselves with rotten food.
We get in our cars. We could be in a fatal accident.
We walk outside. We could be hit by a bus.
We go to work. We could get fired. We could be killed by terrorists.
We go home and we go right back to the place we feel safe, but are we? We could face a billion different types of accidents that might result in death.
Our children might suffer. They could make catastrophic mistakes. We could all die. Right now.
Good. Now we know the risks. What can we do? We can attempt to make our homes safer. We can learn to drive well. We can ensure that our cars are relatively safe vehicles. We can choose to fly on airlines that are reputable.
We can surround ourselves with intelligent, motivated, concerned individuals who have our best interests at heart. We can attempt to use our best judgement, at all times.
Beyond these things, we don't have much control. We use the tools that are available to us and hope for the best. That's what I do. I don't choose to live my life worrying about the things that I can't control. Guess what? I can't control very many things. I can control myself, my home environment and the opportunities that I offer to my children.
My children are responsible for their own choices and the results of those choices. I can guide them, help them, teach them and comfort them. I can feed them, nurture them and love them. Beyond that, I don't have any control at all. Nor do I want that control. My goal is for them to learn from life. Life will teach them everything they need to know. I'm there as a more experienced guide. I'm not an expert. We're all still learning.
We make breakfast. We could spill something, slip, fall, hit our head and die. We could burn ourselves on the stove. We could poison ourselves with rotten food.
We get in our cars. We could be in a fatal accident.
We walk outside. We could be hit by a bus.
We go to work. We could get fired. We could be killed by terrorists.
We go home and we go right back to the place we feel safe, but are we? We could face a billion different types of accidents that might result in death.
Our children might suffer. They could make catastrophic mistakes. We could all die. Right now.
Good. Now we know the risks. What can we do? We can attempt to make our homes safer. We can learn to drive well. We can ensure that our cars are relatively safe vehicles. We can choose to fly on airlines that are reputable.
We can surround ourselves with intelligent, motivated, concerned individuals who have our best interests at heart. We can attempt to use our best judgement, at all times.
Beyond these things, we don't have much control. We use the tools that are available to us and hope for the best. That's what I do. I don't choose to live my life worrying about the things that I can't control. Guess what? I can't control very many things. I can control myself, my home environment and the opportunities that I offer to my children.
My children are responsible for their own choices and the results of those choices. I can guide them, help them, teach them and comfort them. I can feed them, nurture them and love them. Beyond that, I don't have any control at all. Nor do I want that control. My goal is for them to learn from life. Life will teach them everything they need to know. I'm there as a more experienced guide. I'm not an expert. We're all still learning.
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