I’ve never been one of those “Luck be a lady tonight!” gambling dudes. That stuff is strictly for the movies. That being said, thanks to my Almost Friend, John, I did meet some professional gamblers. Yes, they made a living at cards and other chancy ventures. But for them, it was more of an actuarial venture. Luck had little to do with it – Chance, yes. Luck? No. They may have also worked harder than many of us at analyzing the world around them. If one of them offered odds on it raining tonight, don’t take them; he had some sort of inside track.
Hanging around with people like John and his buddies convinced me that casual gamblers truly need assistance. They genuinely are lambs set out for fleecing.
This sort of pessimism about luck can be infectious. It can spread to the point where you read the news and start looking for the hidden patterns behind events.
Some things do happen randomly. Don’t they? Is it paranoia to be so suspicious that there are agendas, manipulations and such behind everything that goes on?
Well, as one of the gamblers told me one night: “Luck is for the stupes! Never bet on anything unless it’s a sure thing.” And as the words to the song say:
You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.
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That song is one of the wisest things I’ve ever heard. Does luck exist? I think luck is a matter of opinion. I could think it was bad luck to trip on a root and land on ice and break my femur, but the real thing is that it could’ve been my skull. But, because I’ve actually taken lessons in how to fall? It wasn’t my skull; it was preparation
. I could think it was just generally bad luck, but so much amazing good has come of it and necessary personal growth? I could equally think it was necessary and so divine will. What it was was an accident intersecting with my personality and available resources and friends who were truly eager to help in so many ways. Is that luck? Well, that’s definitely good fortune, but maybe I had some cause and effect relationship to it? I love my friends and I’d do the same which made me think it’s nothing more than (nothing more than?) basic human nature at its best and I’m just grateful. Nope. Not luck. Chance.
It’s very hard to do. but you, and I have been able to make positive any number of things that were negative. I’m not suggesting that this is always possible, I’m sure that it is not.
But how you recover from outrageous fortune is much more important than having good luck. Luck will consistently fail. Good coping mechanisms can allow you to nsurvive and even flourish.
Those damned slings and arrows. 🙂