We agonize over it. We curse it. We wish it. We bless it. Luck is the one thing that human beings have spent ages trying to comprehend. We just can't get by the concept of chance. Probably because it is one of the few aspects in life that we have no control over. Sure, we can improve the chances by taking rational steps, but it is still chance nonetheless.
Luck is linked to superstition. And it is in human nature to be superstitious. Walking under a ladder? Or cross a path of a black cat? Friday the thirteen? All of these superstition seem to bring about bad luck. They are are also attempts to control the fortune that we have.
We are all superstitious. Some less so than others, but still is. It is present when we wish another good luck. It is there when we avoid funerals. It is in the things we think we see when the lights go off.
This phenomena of superstition also seem to be more pronounced in people who deal with luck in close proximity. Athletes, businessman or even criminals were shown to be extraordinarily superstitious. NBA players were known to follow a routine before entering the game, hoping for an improvement in the one aspect of the game that could mean win or lose.
Therefore superstition is expected. It is tolerated. The problem arises when it starts to control our lives. When it affects how we think and operate. im sure I do not need to elaborate, all of use know of a certain person in our lives who are overwhelmingly superstitious, and build their lives, actions and emotions around such events that do not make any sense. In fact supserstition is so ingrained into our society it is presented not as superstition but as culture. I have mentioned this somewhere before.
How do we lessen the impact of superstition? How do we cut down the ignorance? Education is one answer. The superstitious tend to be lesser educated, often facing poverty. That is not to say all educated men aren't superstitious, but the numbers are significantly less so. For example, in China, many of the people facing poverty tend to believe in spirits and are willing to sacrifice livestock to appease them. This is vastly different from the Chinese living in more modernised cities such as Shanghai.
The other way is to have security over our beliefs and our values. I am a firm believer that nothing will come to harm you if you did not give any reason for it to. Therefore, I do not believe that walking under the ladder will cause anything other than the chance of the ladder falling on top of you. Nor do I believe that, should ghosts and spirits exist to upset a poor person's luck, they would be so petty as to take small trivial things as offense to them.
Let me dwell on that a little further. Using logic, why would ghosts, according to chinese belief. come through the gate of hell to prey on the innocent? Why would they come and bother people because they, say, step on a patch of grass? When the person has done nothing wrong to hurt them when they are alive? If you think about it, if ghosts do exist, I think it will more likly to be Casper than to be poltergeist.
Of course, one can never be sure. So why worry about it? Why fret about it? Why let something like that affect your life? Be thankful of what we have, and have faith that we are safe, and we will be alright.
Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it. Whether it's by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it.
A woman in Paris was on her way to go shopping, but she had forgotten her coat - went back to get it.
When she had gotten her coat, the phone had rung, so she'd stopped to answer it; talked for a couple of minutes.
While the woman was on the phone, Daisy was rehearsing for a performance at the Paris Opera House.
And while she was rehearsing, the woman, off the phone now, had gone outside to get a taxi.
Now a taxi driver had dropped off a fare earlier and had stopped to get a cup of coffee.
And all the while, Daisy was rehearsing.
And this cab driver, who dropped off the earlier fare; who'd stopped to get the cup of coffee, had picked up the lady who was going to shopping, and had missed getting an earlier cab.
The taxi had to stop for a man crossing the street, who had left for work five minutes later than he normally did, because he forgot to set off his alarm.
While that man, late for work, was crossing the street, Daisy had finished rehearsing, and was taking a shower.
And while Daisy was showering, the taxi was waiting outside a boutique for the woman to pick up a package, which hadn't been wrapped yet, because the girl who was supposed to wrap it had broken up with her boyfriend the night before, and forgot.
When the package was wrapped, the woman, who was back in the cab, was blocked by a delivery truck, all the while Daisy was getting dressed.
The delivery truck pulled away and the taxi was able to move, while Daisy, the last to be dressed, waited for one of her friends, who had broken a shoelace.
While the taxi was stopped, waiting for a traffic light, Daisy and her friend came out the back of the theater.
And if only one thing had happened differently: if that shoelace hadn't broken; or that delivery truck had moved moments earlier; or that package had been wrapped and ready, because the girl hadn't broken up with her boyfriend; or that man had set his alarm and got up five minutes earlier; or that taxi driver hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee; or that woman had remembered her coat, and got into an earlier cab, Daisy and her friend would've crossed the street, and the taxi would've driven by.
But life being what it is - a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone's control - that taxi did not go by, and that driver was momentarily distracted, and that taxi hit Daisy, and her leg was crushed.
A woman in Paris was on her way to go shopping, but she had forgotten her coat - went back to get it.
When she had gotten her coat, the phone had rung, so she'd stopped to answer it; talked for a couple of minutes.
While the woman was on the phone, Daisy was rehearsing for a performance at the Paris Opera House.
And while she was rehearsing, the woman, off the phone now, had gone outside to get a taxi.
Now a taxi driver had dropped off a fare earlier and had stopped to get a cup of coffee.
And all the while, Daisy was rehearsing.
And this cab driver, who dropped off the earlier fare; who'd stopped to get the cup of coffee, had picked up the lady who was going to shopping, and had missed getting an earlier cab.
The taxi had to stop for a man crossing the street, who had left for work five minutes later than he normally did, because he forgot to set off his alarm.
While that man, late for work, was crossing the street, Daisy had finished rehearsing, and was taking a shower.
And while Daisy was showering, the taxi was waiting outside a boutique for the woman to pick up a package, which hadn't been wrapped yet, because the girl who was supposed to wrap it had broken up with her boyfriend the night before, and forgot.
When the package was wrapped, the woman, who was back in the cab, was blocked by a delivery truck, all the while Daisy was getting dressed.
The delivery truck pulled away and the taxi was able to move, while Daisy, the last to be dressed, waited for one of her friends, who had broken a shoelace.
While the taxi was stopped, waiting for a traffic light, Daisy and her friend came out the back of the theater.
And if only one thing had happened differently: if that shoelace hadn't broken; or that delivery truck had moved moments earlier; or that package had been wrapped and ready, because the girl hadn't broken up with her boyfriend; or that man had set his alarm and got up five minutes earlier; or that taxi driver hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee; or that woman had remembered her coat, and got into an earlier cab, Daisy and her friend would've crossed the street, and the taxi would've driven by.
But life being what it is - a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone's control - that taxi did not go by, and that driver was momentarily distracted, and that taxi hit Daisy, and her leg was crushed.
-Benjamin Button
