The Tale of Luck

December 27, 2012

“Once upon a time, there was a tiny invisible force named Luck. Everybody loved it and gave it gifts, hoping that, when needed, Luck would come for them. But Luck had a younger sibling called Bad Luck, who hated Luck with all it’s strength and always tried to be the opposite of Luck, because, while everybody smiled and cheered for Luck, no one liked when Bad Luck was around. People twisted their noses at Bad Luck and everybody blamed it for every bad thing that happened in their lives.”

This is that time of year when joy and happiness take over people. Some folks are going on vacations and we won’t see again for a while, and every single one of them, without exception, while saying goodbye, wish “happy holidays, and good luck!” If there’s one thing I can’t understand is this misconception people have on luck and bad luck. I see all those people on new year’s eve wearing white, jumping waves, and doing all kinds of foolishness hoping it “will bring them good luck” and I can’t understand.

Luck isn’t something you can “force” or hope to come. “Luck” is the name we give for a chain of events that, coincidentally, affect you in a good (luckily) or bad (unluckily) way. Let’s picture an hypothetical scenario: you’re riding a bike and, right before you cross another street, you hit a pedestrian. Was bad luck that put that asshole there, right? Now, what if, one second after you hit him, a car goes by at 60mph crossing the street you are at. Not so bad luck hitting that good citizen now, huh? So, although the result is the same, the denomination we give to that chain of events changed because of one single variable: some douchebag driving his car while talking on the phone. So, what was bad luck for you, became luck. But what about for that poor guy you hit? For him, independently of the result, he’s still pretty banged up, so he had bad luck. It didn’t randomly pointed at him and said “you, sir, are gonna get screwed!” It did just happened. Bad Luck. When you do something that goes badly and you knew the odds were against you, that’s not bad luck. It’s not the universe flipping you the finger and screaming “fuck you, Jimmywobble!” That’s stupidity. YOLO my ass!

I not always wear white on new year’s eve, but when I do, it’s not because I think it will bring me peace in the upcoming year. It’s because I want to get into the spirit of the party. Those thousands of people in white, happy, drunk and with the promise of better things to come are what drive me to join them and put on a white shirt.

But don’t think I’m crazy just yet. If I’m walking down the street and I see a ladder landing on a wall, of course I’ll pass around it. Not only I do not want anything to fall on my head, but hey, what if I’m wrong? Why would I bet against it when I don’t know if it will get angry and come back to bite me in the ass?

So, in this year’s ending, I wish that every single little incident that happens to you in 2013 may be chained to good fortune. I hope that slam you’ll give with your pinky finger in your table helps you find that earring you’re looking for for three years. Or that tongue bite you’ll have may lead you into meeting some super hot nurse.

So I wish you well in the new year. I hope you all the best.

And good luck.

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