<photo: view from the slopes of Mount Elbrus, Russia>
in an article published in the Straits Times today, the Minister of State for Communications and Information and Health Mr Chee Hong Tat said that "Singaporeans too need to change their mindsets towards failure, to encourage risk-taking". he added: "As a society, we must not be intolerant of genuine mistakes and come down too hard on people who try and fail."
we can learn much about risks taking from mountaineers. people seem to think that mountaineers are a bunch of happy-go-lucky folks who go blindly where angels fear to tread. yes, mountains are by their very nature, dangerous. so is driving or jaywalking.
and yet people don't realise that because mountaineers know that mountains are dangerous, the amount of preparation taken before they climb is tremendous. days and days of training, getting and testing the right equipment (and not just having a pair of trekking poles), doing acclimatization climbs, and lots and lots of planning. and even on the day of the summit climb, mountaineers know to never second-guess the weather and Mother Nature. if the weather looks bad or the conditions doesn't seem right - turn around. go down and climb another day. the mountain will still be there.
yes we should take risks, because without risks, there will be no glory. and there is glory in not reaching the summit because you can survive to climb another day. #bcc