I know as a Christian, I'm not supposed to believe in luck. I'm supposed to believe that we are broken people living in a broken world where God's laws still reign. Therefore, you make a stupid decision, chances are it will have negative results. If you're a generous person, you are rewarded, and so on.
What we define as luck can be described thusly: when someone who doesn't deserve good things to happen to them yet they happen anyway, we call it good luck. When someone who we feel deserves good things seems to only have bad things happen to them, we call it bad luck. And the way we define one's deservedness falls along these lines: we deserve good things, others don't.
Okay, we sometimes broaden those definitions to suit our own emotional needs. Those friends and family with whom we are closest deserve good things. Because they are the most likely to give us stuff. We also make exemptions for those who are so blatantly kind and good that we can't convince ourselves that we are better than them. Secretly, however, we resent them for ignoring the very obvious messages within our culture that teach us to be selfish. I mean, come on, don't these selfless do-gooders ever watch TV?
The ones that really get under my skin are the people who I genuinely like who seem to have an abundance of good luck. I have a friend who is good-looking, has a very pretty wife, a litter of pretty kids and is successful in business. Recently, he registered to win tickets to the Peach Bowl. He won. Then he went to the game and won a car! I couldn't win a broken leg in room of double amputees!
Basically, that's what this is about. I am bad luck. I lease an edit system that costs over 60 grand, and Apple announces software that will do the same thing for less than twenty only two months later. I use my house to take out an SBA loan and then start working so much that I have to move closer to my office. But I can't sell the house because of the loan! So I rent the house. Three years later, my tenants flood the basement, leave the house and don't tell us for two months. The result: a foreclosure because the mortgage company wouldn't allow us to defer the mortgage in order to make repairs.
This year has been a prime example. We get an unexpected check from our insurance coverage, and later that day we lose a job worth 12 times as much. We have a productive meeting about work, and within days Kelli's bluetooth headset dies, our iBook takes a nosedive and the computer we get to replace it is a lemon. So, that's it! I'm swearing off luck.
Say it with me: there's no such thing as luck. Luck does not exist. Doesn't that feel better? Don't you feel more liberated to live your life? I know I do. Bad things happen to me not because of random chance, but because I'm a selfish idiot. Yeah, I feel free. My problem is not bad luck, but the fact that I'm unlikable and I make terrible business and life decisions. Wow, that feels great. Now excuse me while I go see if I can have the good luck of tripping and falling into a noose.
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Posted by Wayne to Stone Bridge: Fustian at 3/21/2006 03:23:00 PM
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