How Lucky We Are

Good luck. In a universe of chaos, it is the best we can hope for. Yet, do we ever think that we are lucky enough? What evidence do we need that luck is on our side, and how do we tease apart what is attributed to luck, and what is earned?

I have never found a four-leaf clover.

My daughter has found a dozen in the last couple years.

And she doesn't look for them explicitly, instead, she just seems to Chance upon them in her daily travels. It is like her eyes are drawn to them, primed to spot them amongst the ordinary. And I wonder, is it luck, or is she just paying more attention to the world around her and able to soak in more detail that I cannot?

As she walked from school today, she upped her luck and found a six-leaf clover on the side of the road.

I did some research:

4-leaf clovers = 1 in 10,000
5-leaf clovers = 1 in 24,000
6-leaf clovers = 1 in 312,500

But, the luck isn't in the possibility of numbers, because searching through clover systematically isn't creating luck. It is in the randomness of the event itself. What are the chances of her walking at the right moment, with her eyes falling in the right place, for that particular clover to stand out from the clover next to it, and my daughter to stop, investigate more closely, just incase? Hundreds of other people walked the same path today - they didn't see it?

Are they the unlucky?

Or are they the inattentive?

Nobody gets justice.

People only get good luck or bad luck.

Orson Welles

Luck is an interesting thing to consider when one has to be prepared to take advantage of the luck. Preparation is key, because good luck for the unprepared, is a punishment, not a gift.

There is no justice in luck, because it can fall on the fair and ugly alike. I know a person who is what the majority of people in this world would call a "fucking asshole", yet he is also a lucky fucking asshole most of the time. No matter how much of a prick he is, he always seems to land on his feet, benefiting whilst those who are better people than himself, suffer.

Injustice.

But, if there is no justice, how can there be injustice? It is just "the way it is" at that point. Some are lucky, some are not, and the universe doesn't care if you are a good person or a dick in order to grant it. It is just another random mechanism the universe applies willy-nilly to fuck with us. The best we can do is be prepared for the moments luck does swing our way.

This approach has the added benefit of if luck doesn't, at least we have been doing the work required, which means we are likely in a better position anyway. If luck's pendulum does shift, then we can take advantage of it.

But I often wonder if we are surrounded by "luck" all of the time, yet because we aren't prepared, or because we aren't willing to seize it, we feel unlucky. as they say, "fortune favors the bold" and someone who is willing to do the work without knowing if it will pay off, or take an opportunity that might incur losses of what one has worked for, are bold moves. Maybe the unlucky aren't bold enough to take hold, and hold on.