One of the most important pieces of advice that I have given to my children, Greg Jr., Alexis and Christopher is that “you have to be willing to take risks”. I have lived by that philosophy most of my life. People who are afraid to take risk are people who do nothing, have nothing and are nothing. 

If there is one cardinal rule passed on to me and my brothers from my dad, Dr. Melvin Julius Griffin Sr., it was: “Unless somebody as rich as J. Paul Getty leaves you a lot of money, the likeliest route to making a lot of money is by taking a lot of risk.” My dad’s risk taking philosophy carries over into many other areas of life as well. 

Think about it. If you laugh, you risk looking like a complete idiot. If you cry you risk looking too weak. If you reach out to other people you risk becoming involved with them. If you open up to other people and expose your feelings you risk exposing your true self. If you risk placing your dreams in front of a crowd you risk being ridiculed. If you love someone you risk that person not loving you back. If you live you risk dying. If you hope you risk despair. If you set out to succeed you risk failure. There is nothing worse than to risk nothing. A person who risks nothing will avoid pain and sorrow, but will not receive the rewards that come from learning, feeling, changing or loving.  

It was Mark Twain who said, “Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great.” I encourage everyone to throw caution to the wind and take risks. Don’t be afraid. It was Robert Kennedy who said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” You can not steal second base and keep your foot on first. 

We all receive 86,400 seconds of life a day. It is up to us to decide how we use them. I strongly urge you to take risks. Just remember a turtle can never advance without sticking his neck out! Don’t be a hater and envy successful people for their great luck. Their success has nothing to do with luck. Their good fortune came to them because somewhere down the road they were not afraid to take risks.

In the words of my dad, “If these gas prices get any higher I am going to buy me a horse!”