Some people – special people, perhaps – just have the luck in the world.
This is if you believe and cast your lot in luck.
However, there are those who, without exerting so much effort and time, are just fated to win and shine.
On the other side, there are also those who choose their own paths to success, struggling in the process, overcoming the various obstacles along the way and consequently winning the race and the trophy. They call themselves self-made men and women.
This is a dog-eat-dog material world. I don’t think anyone would contradict this kind of acceptance. To survive is to be the fittest. One needs to capably compete and feverishly win by a knockout.
The lessons Bill Gates, Michael Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett and the other notable and established billionaires imparted to us and continue to impart to this day includes, among other things, the wise and productive utilization and management of time and money.
The earth was gifted by our Creator with unlimited natural resources for humanity to scour, develop and maintain for its posterity and sustenance. Therefore, acquiring material riches has become foremost in the minds of men (and women, too).
The defeatists, the mentally lame, the insecure and timid will have a very difficult time progressing. Unless they get out of their shells, out of their chrysalises and take on the challenges and problems they encounter every day, they cannot hope to free themselves of the chains that negatively bind and constricts them.
The shrewd and the smart-aleck, the corrupt and the opportunist, the crafty and the cunning, the foxy and the sly and their ilk will half-succeed and survive. Only for a time because the long arms of justice and the law – divine and human justice, for that matter – will sooner or later, catch up with them.
Those enjoying power and authority today live in wanton, immoral abandon as if they are above the law for even the law enforcers are afraid to touch them with ten foot poles. They, too, will see the day when they will receive their just reward.
A nonchalant, fearful attitude hovers our society and surroundings.
Everyone seems to be just contentedly going with the flow, taking the road that is most travelled and trekked.
This appears to be the safer direction because if you are in the minority, you get less attention from the government. The voice of one is just that, the voice of one soul shouting in the wilderness.
Can’t blame people who throw their lots in games of chance and believe in luck. Because sometimes they win, even rarely. And though they lose much often than what is ideally desired, they seem not to lose hope in luck.
Luck is all they have. That’s the painful reality.
In this world where the mighty and the connected and the influencers reign supreme, there’s not much one can do but rest your hope that Lady Luck will smile on you one day.
It is good that the academe – our institutions of learning, state colleges and universities and the reputable private schools – does not, in their curricula, offer subjects on the study of superstitions and luck. Otherwise, hordes of Filipino students would troop and enroll.
Myths and mysticism attract a lot of curious folks, you know.
Just an aside, years ago, I heard that in one state university in the US, school authorities offered a subject on the study of Beatlemania.
Wow, do we care?
Not incidentally, the Son of Man said in the beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of God is theirs. Blessed are those in sorrow; they shall be comforted. Blessed are the lowly; they shall inherit the land.” (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
