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It is interesting how language changes over time and how new ways of understanding our surroundings becomes normative. One of the language changes that I have noted as an educator over the past 20 years is the way in which we use the word "safe".

Safe means protected from any danger, harm or loss. It is a straightforward definition and there is no suggestion that in many situations that being safe is a highly desirable state. In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, safety needs come right after the physiological needs of air, food and water. There is no doubt that a good level of safety is important for all humans to flourish and grow.

However, over the past 20 years I have seen this term continue to expand the press into all different parts of our lives to the point that now being safe and having safety can, sometimes be counterproductive to development, learning and maturity. For some the lived definition of safety has come to mean the absence of all discomfort.

Yet, in many ways discomfort is one of the things we need as humans to learn and grow. A life lived well contains significant risk. You cannot get strong without the discomfort and even pain of training. You cannot grow emotionally without the opportunity to feel deep and at times painful emotion. You cannot learn without the discomfort of first not knowing. You cannot mature without the discomfort of being called out by those we love. We cannot develop deep relationships without the challenge of working through relational conflict.

To grow we need to be exposed to all these risks and more. We need to be challenged, to be pushed to move out of our comfort zone and into the space of challenge and discomfort and on occasion pain. Being in the place of challenge and discomfort leads to growth best when we also have the security of people who love us, care for us and are looking out for us. We need wise people who can buffer the discomfort, let us know it will be ok and spur us on. This is the role that we as parents, teachers and other significant adults play in the lives of young people.

At Green Point, we also recognise that under it all is a sovereign God who will never leave us or forsake us during our times of challenge.

Therefore, here at Green Point we seek ways to embrace appropriate risk and challenge. We do this in a structured and guided way that releases students into growing challenge and discomfort as they grow and mature. Staff do not immediately leap in to save students from challenges, rather they seek to provide opportunities for students to work things out themselves, to push through the challenge and to achieve things they didn't think they could do, We do this for their good as they grow toward maturity, and because there is nothing better than the look on a student's face after they have overcome something they didn't think they could do.

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Joel van Bentum