This is http://www.essayz.com/a9212151.htm         
Previous-Essay      <== This-Essay ==>     Following-Essay
Click HERE on this line to find essays via Your-Key-Words.
{Most frequent wordstarts of each essay will be put here.}
==========================================================
  %PRUDENT RISK TRUSTWORTHY SECURITY DEFENSE RELATE 921215

     It is imprudent to seek to be invulnerable;  free  of
all risks. It is in fact risky to try to be risk-free; for
the effort to be  risk-free  is  bound to breed dishonesty
which is full of risks.  This does not  mean  that  it  is
prudent to take all risks,  or that it  is prudent to take
risks  where there  is little promise that the risks  will
bear good fruit.

     It  is prudent to take modest risks which  hold  some
real  promise of moving the boundary between what is risky
and  what  is  not  risky;  moving  the  boundary  toward
honesty,    intimacy,   authenticity,   mutual   security,
cooperation, mutual understanding and mutual trust.  It is
rarely prudent to take great risks when more  modest risks
will move the boundary effectively.   Many small movements
of  the boundary are more likely to endure,  than  is  one
major shift in the boundary;  for major shifts are  likely
to make some people feel threatened and  insecure,  and so
elicit defensive  measures which  will  shift the boundary
back again to where it was---or farther back.

     Real  living is risky,  full of taking prudent risks.
To  try to avoid taking small prudent risks  is  to  avoid
real living; and so is to die, bit by bit. It is deadly to
always be on the defensive in trying to be risk-free. Such
behavior  breeds  higher  levels  of  risk,   rather  than
reducing   the  levels  of  risk.   Defensiveness   breeds
insecurity  which  elicits  defensiveness.   Prudent  risk
taking   elicits  trust  which  increases   security   and
moderates  tendencies  to  be defensive.   Imprudent  risk
taking may, however, make people feel insecure in the face
of   behavior  which  they  cannot  understand  as   being
reasonable.

     Security  is promoted by behavior which is seen to be
prudent  and reasonable,  even though entailing  what  are
seen  as prudent  risks.   Security  is  not  promoted  by
reckless  behavior which is seen to be risky in ways which
make no sense, and as unlikely to bear good fruit.

     We need to be in dialogue with those who may be prone
to  take  unfair advantage of us when we  take  risks---to
help them to understand how our risk taking may be seen to
be prudent;   as likely to bear good fruit.  We need to do
what  we  can to  help them understand  the logic  of  our
taking risks,  and how our  taking  risks  can be to their
greatest advantage if they do not take unfair advantage of
our vulnerability when we do take risks.

     It  is  risky to take unfair advantage of people  who
take  prudent  risks  in an effort to  move  the  boundary
between   risky    behavior  and  safe   behavior---toward
honesty,    intimacy,   authenticity,   mutual   security,
cooperation, mutual understanding and mutual trust. Taking
unfair advantage of prudent risk-takers moves the boundary
toward  dishonesty,   animosity,    deception, insecurity,
antagonism, mutual misunderstanding, and mutual   distrust
--- a dangerous direction to move.   That direction is not
in the best interests of anybody in the long term.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
==========================================================