A greeting card commercial follows the best man as he makes his way among the wedding guests. He innocently makes less than appropriate comments - calling family members' wives by the names of previous partners, commenting about women not knowing he is talking to their spouses and other assorted faux pas. When the time for him to give his speech to the bride and groom arrives, everyone around him experiences trepidation as he stands and gathers their attention with a clink of his wine glass. He very eloquently delivers a beautiful and heartfelt speech to the amazement of all of those whose feelings were trampled previously in the evening. He admits that he didn't write it, (it was delivered word for word from a Hallmark card), but that the feelings were real. Everyone is delighted and applauds the young man.
I teach a course on Risk Taking and frequently speak to groups on the subject. I sometimes begin my presentation inquiring about risks the audience has taken. They include - "Was it a risk to put your life in the hands of another person to drive you to this event today?", "How much did you really know about your spouse before you married them?" and other points to ponder.
A recent announcement among friends of a youthful couple's engagement sparked conversations of wedding highs and lows. One woman lamented that children didn't belong at weddings. As cute as they can be they are so unpredictable and can sometimes be so disruptive if they end up paralyzed with fear and refuse to proceed down the aisle as planned. Others shared stories of wedding mishaps - tripping, fainting, forgetting to memorize vows - along with stories from tv shows featuring wedding catastrophes.
We can plan and prepare with great care and detail but it seems that there is always something - not always huge but enough to knock us off our path - when we set off on a mission. It is how we react to that situation that can determine whether we end up successful or not.
When we take a risk there are no guarantees that it will work out the way we planned. But if we prepare for all that we know might happen and leave a little wiggle room for what we can't predict or possibly imagine - and handle it with grace and poise - it will all work out in the end. Those mishaps end up as lessons learned or as some very entertaining pictures, videos and stories in later years.
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