Risk!: True Stories People Never Thought They'd Dare to Share

by Kevin Allison

I never wanted to leave a stranger in my wake, but a friend along my path.

He leans over to me, and he says, “Roy, if I can tell you one thing, if I can leave you with one message, it would be that if there’s something you want to do, if there’s a weird feeling that you have, go for it. If there’s something you want to do that you don’t want to tell your mom and dad about, do it. Because we only live one life, and there’s nothing worse than sitting down in a chair fifty years later and thinking about what could have been.”

It’s said that the children’s TV host Mr. Rogers kept a note in his wallet that a social worker once gave to him, saying, “Frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.”