Margaret Heffernan writes in her classic book, Willful Blindness..."After the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, Tony Hayward, the then chief executive of BP, was quick to point out that the rig was built by Hyundai in Korea to a design by a Texas firm, R&B Falcon, which was then bought by the Swiss operators, Transocean, who leased it to BP. Most of the victims were not BP employees. "This wasn't," Hayward said, "our accident." 

​He was and is willfully blind.

I would say that so much of life is the same...in that we are willfully blind to the destructive and toxic relationships that we engage in.

What is willful blindness? Willful blindness is a term used in law to describe a situation in which a person seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally keeping oneself unaware of facts that would render liability. (Wikipedia)

I am most alive when I take risks.

I was a big brother to a young man and every year I would take him to Osooyoos for an overnight camping trip.  We usually camped right beside the lake and it was a great memory for young Mark and myself.  Being single, I had lots of cash to spend to make sure this annual trip was one to talk about.  Each day we would rent seadoos and eat all our meals out...

However there was one ride that I would NOT do.  A parasailing ride.  

You see, I always saw myself as a fat kid. My fear was that I would not go high up in that air...but rather, that I would be dragged behind the boat.  This was too great a risk for me to take in front of young Mark.  I was afraid.  

So this went on for over 5 years.  Each year I would tell Mark that it was too expensive for us to go on the parasailing ride...but truthfully it had nothing to do with money and more to do with being too afraid.
On the sixth year, I am at the same lake with a different group of people and I am "compelled" to go parasailing.  Sure enough I put the harness on and I give the thumbs up "ready" sign to the boat driver and it happens.  The boat digs in and I am pulled up high in the air.

It was glorious.  The sun, the colours of the water, the orchards in the distance...absolutely spectacular!

But something else happened.  

I heard  the voice.  

"This is what I wish for all my children, that they live without fear." 

Two weeks later I am praying again.  "God what do you want me to do that I normally would be too afraid to do.  I don't want to get to heaven and find you have something great for me to do and I was too afraid to do it"

Immediately, the voice said, "Run for School Board."
​
I ran in the election one year later,  nobody thought I would win.  On election night when the last poll was in --- I won by 86 votes.  Taking that risk has made all the difference!