Day 107, April 17

The May issue of Reader's Digest contains an article titled "The Art of Problem Solving." With increasing interest, I read the nine tips to increase creativity and innovative thinking. One tip was gleaned from a company which gave its employees two "I screwed up cards." Workers are encouraged to take risks. If they fail, they hand in a card and are off the hook. What a great idea. I wondered why I am not as generous with myself. Why can't I take creative risks? Of course, writers take a risk every time they submit a short story, an article, a book manuscript. Too often, however, I fall into the same patterns, turning in the same kind of work I've done before. It succeeds sometimes, I reason, so why not keep doing it? That is in-a-rut thinking. The movie STAR WARS was rejected by every movie studio in Hollywood before 20th Century Fox finally took a chance on it. Both its creators and the studio took a huge risk on producing something so completely different from anything that had been done up until that time. It went on to be one of the largest-grossing movies in film history, as well as spawning an entire series. Taking risks involves not only creativity but also courage, strength, and the ability to endure the ridicule of others. Benjamin Franklin possessed all three of these qualities when he experimented with electricity, but he ignored the nay-sayers and continued with his "crazy" ideas. So, for today, I am grateful for people who take risks.