MARCH 24
A person that never climbs will never fall.
—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARESometimes, devastated as we are by grief at the loss of a
loved one, we may wonder, Is it worth it? Would it be wiser
not to be so invested in people that when they die we feel
our own world is all but destroyed?
We know the answer. Such a choice would deny what is
most richly human in our experience—the ability to make
close and intense connections with other human beings.
No more could a parent keep a child from engaging in
any pursuit that might involve danger. Of course for children
as for adults, there are some pursuits that are so dangerous
only the foolhardy are drawn to them, just as there are some
relationships so dangerous we enter them at our peril.
Our life choices waver back and forth across the thin line
of unwise involvement on one side and rich human exchange
on the other. It is a matter calling for wise judgment—to
whom we entrust our heart. But to hold back from loving
and being loved because there is always the danger of losing
is like trying to prevent a child from learning to walk because
the child might fall. The child will fall—and will get up and
walk again.
The risks of loving are worth taking, even the risk of loss.