Just as hardships inevitably provides way to ease every challenge paves a path to a movement of relief and growth. It is necessary for folks to take risks, both in their private lives as well as in their official lives. I believe that the merits and demerits of taking challenges are equal, because on the brighter side it can bring opportunities and on the darker side it can cause loss.
On one hand, taking risks either in social lives or in professional lives can provide opportunities and change the world forever afterwards. It makes us creative, confident and leads to lasting success. As in 1928, Alexander Fleming published the 1st discovered antibiotic formula in every newspaper the very next day, after big pharmaceutical mafia offered him a large sum of money in exchange. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945. Likewise, from an economical point of view, a cryptocurrency named Bitcoin was released in 2009, worth no monetary value and in the next year its value increased to 0.10USD. People invested their money in this coin and now it’s worth is around $97,000. Another example is by Barry Marshall who had to ingest live H. Pylori (a bacteria) to prove that it causes stomach ulcers as no one believed him. He developed stomach ulcer and proven his theory practically after that, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2005. One of the most talked‑about risk moments for Elon Musk was 2002, when he poured the $180 million, he earned from selling PayPal into three new ventures Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity essentially betting his entire fortune on unproven technologies. A few years later, 2008 became another watershed: after three failed SpaceX launches and a cash‑crunch at Tesla, Musk risked his remaining personal wealth on a final, desperate launch that succeeded and secured a $1.6 billion NASA contract, saving both companies from collapse. Also, in 2018 Cybertruck design or the 2022 Twitter acquisition and these are also proven to be successful risks. Similarly, the youth of Bangladesh took risks with their lives and futures to end the Quota system for merit-based admission in universities and colleges. Such facts and examples proved that taking risks in various aspects of life rewards fruitful outcomes.
On the other hand, taking risks in work life and personal life can bring dire consequences. It can lead to lowering of morale, demotivation and even depressive mental health disorders. For instance, in July 1941, a well-known historical figure, Adolf Hitler, conqueror of half of Europe at that time, took his forces and attacked the vast USSR (now Russia) launching Operation Barbarossa against the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty pact (1939). He had some initial success but with the arrival of winter, his soldiers starved to death in the freezing cold weather, ultimately leading to his downfall and defeat. Similarly, technologically, a well-known mobile phone company, Nokia was offered to adapt the Android system (a new technology), but their founder refused. People started leaving Nokia and moving to more convenient phones (like Samsung) for a better user interface, leading to collapse of such a big mobile industry. Recently, from an economical point of view, the Sri Lankan president decided to grow rice on previous tea fields for better economy and export. Unfortunately, the field’s habitat was not feasible for rice growth and led to very low exports, eventually leading to bankruptcy and default of the entire country’s economy in 2022. Such examples clarify that taking risk could be a potential threat to individuals, society, nations and even the whole world.
From the above highlighted points and real-life examples, taking the risks could be helpful and can change our whole way of living however, it can also bring chaos and decline to one’s life. Therefore, it is recommended that before taking risks, they should be calculated, and similarly, prior knowledge and past experience should be taken into consideration for a bright future and minimal negative outcome.