Ships Are Safe In Harbor, But That Is Not What They Are Meant For

Abraham Lincoln, 16^th president of the United States, led the country through its greatest constitutional, military, and moral crises- the American Civil War. They say, he faced defeat on many fronts, failed business, death of fiancée, lost out in several elections, death of sons, these are great losses but he kept moving on and reached out to success by never ending efforts.

He is credited on preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, strengthening the national government and modernizing the economy of America. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, Lincoln was self-educated and went on to become president of the country. He’s considered both by scholars and public as one of the greatest U.S. presidents.

Abraham Lincoln chose to take risks and eventually glorified himself. Do you think this had been possible if he accepted defeat and abstained from any fruitful efforts in wake of more failures?                                                                                               Well, I don’t think so. Without stopping he continued his journey, though not secure from dangers of further failures, he didn't renounced , “Ships Are Safe In Harbor, but that’s not what they are meant for.”

 A ship is safe in harbor, but if you wanted something safe you would have built a fortress, not a ship. Ship by its very nature, being lighter than water is vulnerable to the wind and waves, rocks and reefs. But unlike a fortress it can move wherever the wind and the waves (and crew) choose to go. A ship exist to go different places, though it is safe at shore, it risks itself. Its voyages are manifestation of the danger faced. A ship is meant to risk everything in order to explore the unexplored and in the process glorify itself.

Safety can be imperative, but when you are completely safe, you really can’t do much. To do things you have to leave your safety behind and take risks. Safety by its very notion is utopian.  A standing Ship in harbor can get prey to rusting or storm or tsunami. Risk is irrefutable. To achieve the glory we have to shred the clothes of safety behind. One can also have balance scales of safety and risk but in the absence of risk there’s hardly any life, let alone success and glory.

A person with a dream of a successful entrepreneur but without good financial background has to risk everything in order to achieve the ends. He also has a safer option to let go of his dreams without taking risk. If he does that he might loss success and glory in waiting. Life is all about taking risks, those who dare and challenge are those who live with gratification. If he takes risk and continue with his dream, he might fail. He can’t presage the future, nobody can, if he fails he can learn and fight again and eventually might succeed but the ultimate aspect is to take risk, try again and again, and that’s the decisive aspect of life.Do you think Shiv Nadar or Ajim Premji would have succeeded without taking risks. 

You might argue what of those who have failed? Failure is the most profound aspect of risk taking and few among us can claim the distinction of not knowing the sting of falling down, of “failure”. The prestigious college missed; the result (backs) not expected; honour not won; the prize lost due to politics; the praise denied, but do we stop trying because of these? We do not. Success, though not sure also have short shelf life and we do not build on success, we build on failures which are achieved by walking on the unknown path, with the winds and waves hitting hard and the rationales of safety far away.

Life Is Either A Daring Adventure, Or Nothing At All.