To the Chinese, luck is a human attribute, similar to intelligence, beauty, wit, or talent. Each person possesses a level of luck – good, bad, or middling – that can vary, similar to how one’s health, wealth, and happiness can be improved or diminished. Whereas Westerners consider luck to be chance occurrences beyond one’s control, the Chinese consider luck to be an attribute that can be improved with beneficial feng shui. I like the Chinese view of luck, because life is not as random as all that. There are lightning strikes and lotteries, but generally, we reap what we sow.
“Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained and using well spoken words; this is good luck” – Buddha
When I was in second grade, it was all the rage to carry a rabbit’s foot on a keychain for good luck. I remember stroking the soft fur, avidly believing in the power of the rabbit’s foot (although what is luck to a second grader? Finding a quarter? Getting to stay up until 9pm?). Then, one day as I sniffed curiously at the foot’s unusual musky smell, a repelling thought dawned on me: This was once attached to an actual rabbit. I stopped carrying it. After all, the foot wasn’t so lucky for the rabbit.
“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson
Coincidentally, around this time in my life, my favorite breakfast cereal was Lucky Charms. In hindsight, I recognize that my passion for Lucky Charms blossomed under a targeted marketing strategy by General Mills that flooded Saturday morning cartoons with vivid commercials revolving around Lucky the Leprechaun (“They’re always after me Lucky Charms!”) Yeah, sure the cereal is “magically delicious”… it turned out, the magic ingredient is sugar.
“Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky!” – Dr. Seuss
I’m thinking about luck today because of last night’s Patriot’s game, in which they narrowly defeated the Baltimore Ravens 27-24. The Boston Globe wrote an article entitled “Luck helps keep perfection alive”: “The Patriots never lose. Most of the time they dominate. Some of the time they are clutch. And sometimes they are just plain lucky. Last night they were clutch. And lucky.” Indisputable. But as I said before, we reap what we sow.
“I wasn’t lucky. I deserved it” – Margaret Thatcher
