Luck

One of my best friends feels everything in life is at a fifty percent probability; it either happens or it doesn’t. I don’t think he means to defy the entire sub-section of mathematics that deals with probability, he just simplifies to the conclusion of the event, as it either occurred or it failed to do so. Sure some things are more probable to happen than others, and yet sometimes things happen that aren’t probable at all. I think my friend believes in luck… do you?

Luck is often categorised with fortune, fate, destiny or chance. Though most of us are sure that whatever it is, it is random. In fact, some of us believe that the only true essence of luck is its arbitrary nature that sometimes flashes its way in our everyday lives. I am sure everyone has their opinion and their own definition on luck, and I just want to explore the ones I feel are important. I don’t believe in waking up every morning, still breathing with your body parts intact and healthy to be lucky. If you slept healthy, in a healthy/regular environment, you were bound to wake up that way. Now if you were fatally sick, and suddenly without a cause or reason, you wake up cured, that’s the kind of fortune people often refer to as a miracle. However, leaving the two extremely polar examples aside, in our regular lives, how much do we really depend on chance?

Luck, unlike most things, is a fascinating sphere adjoining science and faith. Some religions believe in miracles, some in predestination whilst some in karma; but all have the element of chance in this chaotic world. Science too, cannot escape the clutches of luck playing out in their view of the world. May it be the big bang, or the human evolution; the circumstances that had to fall in order for any of these things to happen were so minuscule that even they would call upon the faith-ridden ‘miracle’.

How lucky are you? I was born almost twenty-five years ago amongst probably three hundred thousand other people. Was it by accident that I was born in an affluent family in New Delhi, or in a ghetto in Memphis, or in an average family in Sydney? Is it good fortune to be raised in royal families of Western Europe or bad fortune to grow up in the slums in Brazil? The answers are obvious, and it is also very obvious that no infant born in any of these places along with me were any different than me, besides their luck. Many people going through the same journey of life, often have different outcomes; and while some attribute it to luck, some boast about their control on life.

Some people make their own luck. It is absolutely empirical to follow the flip side of luck to gain a better understanding of the subject. People claiming to make their own luck, having control over their destiny and having fate in their hands are no more special than people completely depending on luck. The only thing that sets them apart is that they know the significance of their decisions/actions that affect the outcomes. They know that without their input, there very well may not be any output. One cannot expect to make bread if they do not harvest the wheat. People like these might subscribe to religious texts with miraculous bread, but they know not to rely their livelihood on chance.

Every person, according to me, has an optimist and a pessimist inside him or her. Sometimes and under certain circumstances, one might over power the other, but one doesn’t usually consume the person completely. The defeatist in us, upon reading might relay this information above (which I think is neither new, nor original) and feel the loss of importance his existence holds. When we realize our entire existence might just be a stroke of luck, karma or anything beyond our control, one might feel that every decision of theirs to be inefficacious since all they have to do is rely on dumb luck! However, the fighter in us must see this an opportunity to exercise our dominance over our luck. One cannot deny the existence of accidents or chance in life, but one very well doesn’t need to rely on it. One can realizes that there is always room for luck (good or bad), but it doesn’t need to be the major factor weighing in on the outcome. To expand on that, if one person works really hard towards something, does everything that is required to make his goal happen; he has gained the odds on his favor. Now whether that person’s fortune decides to influence the outcome or not, he/she is more likely to achieve their goal. Basically, take that metaphorical ‘room of luck’ and decide how big do you want this room to play a role in your decision. Clearly, there is no way of getting rid of this ‘room’, but once you realize that, you also realize you have the power to keep it small in most everyday decisions in your life and overall less depended on luck and more depended on yourself. To conclude another banter, with self realisation and pseudo epiphany in Eastwood’s word, I part you with, “Do you feel lucky punk? Well… do you?”