The two great risks are risking too much but also risking too little. That's for each person to decide. For me, not risking anything is worse than death. By far.
Interpretation
Taking risks is essential for personal growth, but it is important to find a balance in how much to risk.
In this quote, Jimmy Chin emphasizes the importance of risk-taking in life. He suggests that both extremes—taking excessive risks and being overly cautious—carry significant consequences. For him, the absence of risk is a more daunting prospect than facing potential failure or hardship, highlighting a belief in the value of pushing boundaries and embracing challenges as a means to truly live life. Each individual must navigate their own threshold for risk, but the underlying message is one of courage and the pursuit of meaningful experiences.
In practice
This quote can be used during a motivational speech to inspire individuals to embrace risks in their lives.
On climbs, there is a general way we manage fear. We look at things objectively, separating out perceived risk from real risk. You can really bring down the level of fear by knowing the real risks and setting aside the others. You also know that panicking just makes things worse.
You learn over years of expeditions that having faith, and putting one foot in front of the other, you do end up pulling off climbs that seem completely impossible. There's a certain beauty to that. It has an allure.
You do wonder - when you are at 28,000 feet, the height that aeroplanes cruise at, when you are struggling to draw breath and every limb aches - why do I do this?
Becoming a parent has changed the risk calculus for me. But it might be age, too, and seeing a lot of friends die in the mountains. Will I take the same risks I took in my 20s? Probably not, but I will always push myself in the mountains.
The mainstream audience has a certain picture of what climbing is all about: man conquering mountain. But you can't conquer a mountain, though it may conquer you.
It's hard to take people seriously who say you're totally irresponsible if you go out and climb mountains when you have kids, because they clearly don't understand the circumstances. You can't impose your own acceptance of risk on other people - that's not fair.
I would describe and I have described myself to people who ask as a freedom fighter.
When I look back at what I had to go through in black baseball, I can only marvel at the many black players who stuck it out for years in the Jim Crow leagues because they had nowhere else to go.
Whether trauma will be a cruel and punishing Gorgon or a vehicle for soaring to the heights of transformation and mastery depends upon how we approach it.
All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.
In difficult and desperate cases, the boldest counsels are the safest.
I have hurt my community. I have to look myself in the mirror and know that, and I have to own that in order to grow past that.
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