I’m feeling lucky
Luck seems to top the list of things people want and that start with L. It kind of corrected a misconception. I expected the top result to be ‘How to get laid’. That being the most primal and basic instinct of humans. May be people already know that or may be they thought luck would get them laid anyway. But Luck seems to be one every ones wish list.
Google even has an I’m feeling lucky button if you just in case have previously googled and already got the luck from that place where they give away luck. It sounds sarcastic but there are oodles of places where you can get luck. To be more accurate, where you can ‘Buy’ luck. Just to see what the worlds best search engine would suggest if I asked it this question. It took me to a page where there was a list of things ranging from most silly to most obvious (Lucky charms to Working Hard).
Now, one can be impatient to make their own luck. It might take some time and effort to make it, so they just buy it. They buy charms, stones, gold or some even buy blessings. That’s a story for another day. But most people are not rich enough to keep buying their luck so they make their own.
People make their own luck by doing things at a lucky time or on a lucky day or wearing a lucky color or wearing a lucky shirt. You name it they have a it. May be there is a lucky under wear too. So, how can a time/day/color be lucky? It doesn’t make sense.
It is a great insult to associate success to luck. This happens especially if one has an inferiority complex and a lack of self belief. Suppose a student prepares for only 2 of the 5 chapters in syllabus for the test and looks at the test paper to find most of the questions are form the the 2 chapters he/she prepared for. They associate this with the deity they prayed to that day, the mode of transport they took, the breakfast they had, the seat they took, the first face they looked after they woke up, the pen they brought, the shirt they wore, the shop where they bought the text book, the song that they heard on the way, the girl they saw before the exam. You name it, they have it. They have a self documented scientific proof of the event that made those questions appear in the test. The poor guy/girl who prepared for the other 3 chapters will be cursing all the things I mentioned above. Clearly he/she did not put in the total effort logically required to take the test. They just did part of it and so now, they have to associate their success to some external element because they know that they are not the reason for it.
People do not believe in coincidence.Yet, they buy lottery tickets. Do one of their lucky things and think they got lucky if they win. But ignore their lucky charm if they don’t win. That’s very hypocritical and also being lazy. But they are still justified as they don’t know the reason for their success, so they are trying to associate.
I’m no saint here. I was part of the brigade, my thing was color. It first started with fear. As a kid I was involved in 3 minor accidents through no fault of mine. All 3 times, I was wearing a black shirt. So, I associated it with bad luck. Then, I gave an exam where I was not very confident about. I aced it and I was wearing a white shirt that day. So, it was established. Black is bad, white is good. Then I was involved in a potentially fatal accident and again through no fault of mine. I was wearing… no.. not black. It was white this time. See, It happened on the way to another exam. How could I be not wearing white to exams? No, I escaped this potentially fatal accident with minor injuries. Luckily. No. Due to a couple of coincidences. Guess what I did now? I thought I was saved because I was wearing white.
Subconsciously, I have already trained my brain to associate black with bad and white with good. Now even if something bad happens white, I search for a bright side. That is still acceptable, makes me a more optimistic person. But the other side of the coin is bad. I was scared to wear black, predetermined that no matter what I do, black will cause problems. This is bad. very bad. It wasn’t until a lot of years later that my brain started to realize the nonsensical nature of my black and white logic. I turned the corner with one logic, put in 100% effort, do not expect 100% success. There are too many variables in the equation for each and every thing you do. So, trying to control the outcome is a futile exercise. All you can do is try with all your heart. If it doesn’t happen it’s not just because of you, its not because of you or something you wore or saw that day. There are a hundred things that can happen. Always look at future as one with infinite possibilities being influenced by infinite events.
What infuriates me the most is that most of the people who are armed with sufficient will skills and talent to execute something get bogged down by some stupid concepts that guarantee 100% success with no logical sense.
Above is one of my all time favorite scenes in Movies. It basically explains how the universe works and also the point I’m trying to make in this post.
So, I will not be wishing you best of luck. I’m wish you all the very best.
Random thoughts of a confused primate 