The old saying that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” implies that we should always choose the safe or guaranteed option. We should not bet everything on the possibility of greater rewards; instead, we should be content with what we have rather than risk losing everything.
Its often stated that we should have the courage of our convictions, that we should follow our dreams, and that we need to be brave and take risks; rather than take the safer option go for the secure approach and risk regretting it later.
But in reality, is the safe option really all that safe, or is security just an illusion?
Look at the impact of the global ecumenic crisis – how many people, who took the perceived safer option ended up out of work, deep in debt, and with their houses repossessed?
What happened to the bird in the hand?
The reality is that security is pretty much an illusion, the bird in the hand is just as liable to fly off as are the birds in the bush.
The difference is that they might never have got to follow their dreams. So now they are left with nothing and they just have their regrets.
Steve Jobs once said, “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
People say that it takes courage to follow your dreams, maybe that’s true, but maybe we don’t need courage, we just need to know that the security we all crave is just an illusion. Embracing this knowledge, we’re free to chase our dreams, understanding that life is transient but abundant in possibilities.
When it’s all said and done, which would you prefer, to be the richest person in the cemetery or the happiest?
Maybe that’s the choice that we really need to make, not whether we go for the bird in the hand or not!
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