What's too Risky?

My aunt sent me this piece of news recently , which prompts me to write this article.

Taiwanese parents tend to be too protective of their children. They always want their children to be on the safe side in many aspects of life, such as choice of career, friends, even hobbies. In terms of career, most parents want their children to become either doctors or lawyers, as if they are the only careers worth choosing. For choice of friends, most parents encourage their children to be with students with top grades, and stay away from those who know how to have fun. Lastly, most parents encourage their children to pick "classy" hobbies, preferably indoor ones, such as playing musical instruments. And although sports as a hobby is acceptable, they don't want their children to master the sports, because they think being a good athlete means the person must be a bad student. For sports involving a little more risks, such as cycling, they find it unacceptable. Bicycle racing - it's out of the question.

I admit cycling involves more risks from falling, and even more so in bike races. But the most common injury is road rash, not life-threatening injuries as people perceive. There will always be risks in your life, and bad things do happen no matter how hard you try to prevent them. For example, I saw in the news that a pedestrian was hit and killed by car driven by a drug addict. There was nothing she could do to prevent that. But does this prevent people from going out in the street and doing their business every day? No, because they don't let fear control their life.

Bicycling is the only sport I could do and do well, and I draw inspiration from doing races and train for them. Without it, I am but an empty shell without a soul. I hope my parents will understand this some day, so I can share my joy and excitement from doing bike races with them, instead of hiding this from them.

So, what's too risky? It all depends on how you view your life. If you want to be on the safe side all your life, and still can be happy, that's fine. But for me, I know if I don't do bike races, I know I'll be very sorry when I reach old age.