Junior year of high school I took a public speaking class for fun. The students piled in and sat down, but the teacher remained at his desk like he was deep in thought. All the sudden he sprang up with an energy that took over the room and demanded attention.
"Who wants this?" he said, holding a one hundred yuan note.
Hands shot up.
"Who wants this?" He repeated pacing in front of the class.
"I do!" "Me!" We shouted almost completely out of our chairs.
It went on that way for a few more beats until, finally, a brave girl sprung from her seat and snatched the note from the teacher’s hand. He smiled and she went back to her seat 100 yuan richer.
"Now, what was the point of that?" He asked the class. "All of you sat and asked-- none of came up and got it. Now, could I have made her look foolish? Yes. I could have pulled the money back and embarrassed her in front of the whole class. She was willing to take that chance. The point is, in my class, in life-- take a risk because no one gets remembered for the things they didn't do."
His words are a gem and stick with me these years as one of the best pieces of advice I got. Following this has never let me down.
