Photo by aischmidt
In any given circumstances, we can be lucky, or not. That’s just the way it is.
There’s not a lot we can actually control in life. And certainly not the big stuff; the life-changing stuff. All we can do is be ready for each opportunity as best as we can. But without expecting them to arrive, or for things to work out in any particular way.
Many successful celebrity movers and shakers (and the wannabes) like to say they did it with raw talent and hard work. But in reality, without the grace of luck arriving at the right moment, they would be talented, tired, and relatively unknown. Malcolm Gladwell gave the apt example of the role of luck in young Bill Gate’s life. He was one of a small number of 8th-graders who had access to a computer. He was talented, and he was ready. Like many other 8th graders would be around the world. But luck gave him access to a computer.
Is the belief in luck another variant of unconstructive passivity? Like the belief in fate - where everything is preordained, thus rendering moot any point in striving.
Maybe luck and fate are not quite the same. Luck may or may not manifest, but we can work to be more prepared for its arrival every day. And if it doesn’t come, we would have still grown and become more.
