It is true that in order to succeed and learn, that you must take risks, and inevitably make mistakes. In order to grow you have to accept that failure is part of life and that you will fail. More failures will result from taking more risks and trying different things where as taking few risks will result in fewer failures, but also fewer successes. I believe that you should take many risks and be prepared to fail. For me, failing is fun because you know that you can only improve even more, where as succeeding doesn’t teach you anything and doesn’t leave much room for improvement. If the colonists never took risks and never rebelled against Britain and King George II, we would probably still be under Britain’s rule. We would have never had Thomas Jefferson draft the first Declaration of Independence and we would never have had the First Continental Congress. If risks were never made, we would never be able to move forward and learn from our failures. Some of the risks we take will result with horrible consequences such as World War I, but others result in victory and the gaining of new knowledge such as the Battle of Saratoga and the trap set for the British at Yorktown.

I recently read the book Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals. Melba tells of her childhood as one of the Little Rock 9 who fought for educational equity and for the rights of many African Americans. She tells of her struggle trying to integrate Central High in Little Rock Arkansas, and how she persevered until the very end. She endured death threats, bombs, acid showers, and lots of harassment from her white classmates. She took risks that I’m sure many of us are incapable and unwilling to take. I admire Melba very much for standing up for what she believed in and what she knew was right even while she was fighting for other people. Not many people are brave enough or strong to fight for a cause that applies to people all over the world. Many people fight for a cause that will solely benefit them, and none else. Melba had the courage and the moral to join the battle for educational equity and respect for African Americans everywhere.

Although there are many other heroes throughout history whom I can name, Melba is one of the ones who stands out the most to me. She was the advocate of de-segregation in her time, and we should strive to be the advocates of the 21st century. Sometimes, however, even if we take few risks, they can all result in failure. The same can happen with taking too many risks, but you could also end up succeeding instead of failing, so I believe it best to take many risks. If you always try to be safe and take few risks and try to steer clear of risks altogether, you will also steer clear of succeeding. Like Melba Pattillo Beals, we should strive to do what is right, even if it means taking many risks and enduring hardship, because more failures will result if we take more risks, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take them.