Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 1; January 03

[ Editorial Note: the 19 year-old writer or this poem is extremely strong in these intelligences:
linguistic (brilliant at Welsh as a second language)
musical (good on the flute)
spatial (draws and paints well)

However interpersonal things pose more of a problem as this poem makes plain For me, as his uncle, the poem highlights the huge role in life played by what Howard Gardner calls the "interpersonal intelligence" ]

Taking a Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement,
To expose one's feelings to is risk rejection.
To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule,
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure,
But the risk must be taken, because the greatest risk of all is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn,
Feel change, grow or love.
Chained by his attitude, he is a slave, he has forfeited his freedom.
Only a person who takes risks is free.