What's the Risk?

So what does it mean to you when something is described as edgy or dangerous? Do you shy away from the words or are you drawn in helplessly unable to resist their lure? As humans, I believe we are drawn to the unusual, the fantastic and the forbidden for a reason. Perhaps only by reason of sorting out the risky from the safe path, but some are more obsessed with the taboo than others.
The question that always rises for me is how far? and at what cost? If living on the edge necessarily includes some element of risk, then just how far are you willing to go? Why do some people turn away from the slightest risks hyper vigilantly while others push every situation as far as they can? Is it innate or taught behavior? Or is what matters first how we perceive it?
Many of us are taught to play it safe and we are confused when we see others charge right in up to their necks. We wonder if they forgot the rule book and worry if we should admonish them, or warn them to stay back.
It seems like the older you get, the riskier life is, I mean you could break a hip or retire penniless if you are not careful. Those fates would barely affect a twenty year old for a long time, but could be nearly irreversible in an eighty year woman's life.
Interestingly, hitting fifty last year seemed to open my eyes to the fact that risk is just not that scary, that in fact, it can be downright exciting.
I never understood the bad girls in school, I mean it was easy to see how often they made their own lives harder. They sometimes got pregnant, went to jail, had hangovers, got detention or at least got grounded a lot. I never saw the other side when I was younger, that they tested their wings, that they had more experiences both good and bad than I did. That they made crazy madcap memories, failed miserably and yet rose again from the ashes. They knew something I just learned, that life is about learning and growing, not being safe on the sidelines.