This is pulled from a letter that I wrote to my dad. Hešs an old surfer 
and was talking about how he was talking about taking a weekend 
road trip across Florida to go surfing and his buddy Hank 
discouraged him from doing it because the last time that he did it he 
wiped out and was sore for a week.

--------------------
Adventure is fun. Tell Hank I'm disappointed in him. Whimping out 
and regretting wiping out...P**y. He lived, it hurt, who cares. Hell, 
most of my best stories/memories are the offspring of things going 
bad. The worst wipe outs come from the highest jumps and he 
biggest waves. Think of how much people lose because of fear. You 
yourself were the one who told me that the "turn the other cheek" 
parable wasn't saying be passive, it was saying that the fear is a 
waste and often worse than the worst outcome. Hangovers suck but 
people still get drunk. I've eaten s**t more times than I can count 
between skateboarding, skimboarding and freestyle biking. It hurts 
but you live. And I don't accept the "you're young, you bounce." 
Pain hurts no matter how old you are. Me going over a set of handle 
bars at
age 12 hurts more than being bruised from a wave at 52.

This hits real close because I see it all the time. People attempt to 
avoid pain and as a result avoid the thrill of adventure. The 
exhilaration of conquest never came without a challenge. Risk is 
inherent in anything worth while (this is a concept an investment 
broker should be very familiar with). I could go on and on, but I'll 
stop. Basically, Hank's one bad experience out weighs the entire 
summer of fun he had because he's letting it and it's closer in time. I 
think he's also discounting the thrill of a roadtrip, the satisfaction of 
coming back to work and knowing you did something with your 
weekend, the stories that you can tell at lunch. So if the idea of 
investing 5 hours of TV time and a tank of gas without the yield of 
the best surf of your life scares you away, then you're ignoring all of 
the accessory prizes that come with adventure. Hell, most of the 
surfers I know hit the waves just to get wet. And besides, all you 
need to do is call a surfshop where you're headed, they'll tell you 
before you even leave if there's a break. I think RonJon's has a 
national 800 number.