by Adam Churchill

Created on: April 29, 2008   Last Updated: August 17, 2010

It is said that knowledge is power.

Only a fool rushes into a situation where he knows nothing about what dangers are ahead. A courageous fool.

While I admit that I'm lacking in wisdom, in some areas, I know that the feeling of courage is something to be avoided in most cases.

If I could only have one or the other, I'd rather not be a courageous idiot. I'd rather be that wise old guy that everyone asks for help. Probably the simplest answer to this question is right here: If you had to jump over 7 broken planks over a boiling pit of lava, on a rickety bridge, but know that if you made it to the other side, you'd have a million dollars, would you do it?

A courageous person would risk their life for such an amount. A wise man would know that the risk of the bridge collapsing between you, or missing and falling into the lava, far outweigh the million dollars. What good is it to you, if you are dead? I'd rather be the guy, $1 million poorer, who is NOT a pile of melted goop stuck in a volcano somewhere. Think this is unrealistic? Fine.

You and your friends are out mountain biking. There is a stream, full of sharp pointy rocks. There's a bridge over the stream, and a sharp incline, that could make a good jump. Your friends dare you to jump it. It's not a pit of lava, but still, think about it. You have no idea how wide the stream is. You have no idea how far it is to the other side. You have no idea how long a fall it is to the bottom of that stream. You know nothing.

As a wise individual, you would know what the better part of valor is, and how a sane person would react. As a courageous individual, you'd probably be in the hospital. As a VERY courageous individual, you'd likely be in the graveyard.
See where I'm going here?

You don't live to 104, jumping over lava pits, or out of airplanes, or over rocky things. It's just stupid. And if all you have is courage, then you would take any and every excuse to prove it, because without wisdom, you'd just be some mindless idiot of a daredevil.

I'd rather be a wise old man who never took a single risk in his life, than a deceased young man who took one risk too many.

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