Are you a lucky person? I often ask myself this question. But then again, where does luck come from? Well, I often think it probably emanates from myself. All of us know people for sure that are seemingly always unlucky.
No matter what happens, it ends up poorly. And we over time, we begin to pity these poor people. Don’t we really? It seems that they never get a break. And other people like me, seemingly are lucky, just lucky.
Throughout my life, I seem to have been lucky. The other evening coming home, I’m driving my scooter down this street. Street’s relatively dark. It’s about 11 o’clock. And in the distance comes this small white car speeding, coming at me, and the car is going too fast, and it begins to bounce somewhat.
And then it slowly but surely begins to veer towards me. And 5 seconds away from me, it veers back. But given the fact that I was unlucky, the car would’ve hit me, I would think. But it didn’t. And on I went.
So I think that we nurture our luck in that sense. Many years ago, I had to go to Poland for Christmas time, and it was really going to be a special time. Everything was arranged, and I would been very busy. I finally got on the airplane. The gifts are prepared.
Fantastic. So went to Amsterdam to transfer Schiphol Airport, and the airport, as you know, is huge. And it was Christmas time, absolutely crawling with people. So I walked down one of these long long avenues that they parked their planes at and sat down and then an announcement, the gate has been changed. So I move several gates down and sit down again, and an hour later, another announcement.
The gate has been changed. Okay. Fair enough. A third time. And then I hear nothing.
I wait for my flight. After a long time, maybe about 7, 8 hours. And then I think to myself, I’m reading this rather interesting book, and I think to myself, oh my gosh. The time it’s time. And the airplane, what’s going on here?
So I rushed to the gate only to see that the airplane is standing in the distance. And the clerk or the stewardess is there, and I say, well, I need to get on the plane. And she said, oh, terribly sorry, sir. The gate is closed. And I said, gate is closed?
What do you mean it’s closed? There was no announcement. And she said, oh, absolutely, sir. There was an announcement. And at the same time, around 5 other people arrived, and they also are waiting to get on the airplane.
And this crowd becomes rather agitated and a security guard arrives. It’s really you know, it’s gonna be theater here. So I think to myself, it’s pointless to try to resolve this. So I asked the attendant, excuse me. Where can I go and see about this ticket?
And she directs me to an area that there’s going to be a ticket office. So I arrive and there’s it’s in Christmas time. Right? There’s this enormous lineup and I get in the line and I start to listen to some of the stories. I’ve been here 3 days.
I’ve been here 4 days. I’ve missed my flight. Chaos. I can’t get another flight. I’m going to miss Christmas, and the story gets to be rather awful.
And so I finally it’s my turn. I come up to the young attendant and I say, you know, good evening, good afternoon rather. And she said, good afternoon, sir. And so she looks at my ticket and she goes, literally, oh. Oh.
Oh, and I go like, oh, good? Trying to put a positive spin on something here. And she goes, no, sir. I’m terribly sorry. Oh, bad.
Really bad. The next flight is totally full. And I said, well, look now. I have to get on that airplane. It’s actually your fault.
Of course, there’s nothing I can do about that, sir. I’m sorry. She said, you should maybe take the train. So being rather, you know, sparse on my geographical skills at that moment. I said, oh, how long will the train take?
And she said, 2 days. And I said, 2 hours? And she looked at me like, absolute fool. No. 2 days.
You gotta go up to Berlin and you gotta transfer and oh my gosh, just a mess. I said, look, this can’t happen, please. And she said, well, there is one man coming from South Africa flying through Cairo, coming here on his way to the United States, And the flight has been delayed in Egypt, and there is a chance he will be late. So that’s all I can offer you. Go to the gate and see what happens.
So I returned to the gate and and I have about 4 hours to wait. So I go and I speak to the young woman, the young attendant, and I say, look. This is the predicament. And she’s, well, there’s nothing I can do. Come back in 4 hours.
So during these 4 hours, I decide I’m going to attempt to follow Blaise Pascal’s wager. I’m going to believe in the power of God. I’ve got nothing to lose. So I say my prayers. Please, Lord, give me a break.
I gotta get on this plane. And the time comes, I rush to the gate. He hasn’t arrived. I get my seat. I arrive for Christmas in Poland.
Now should I attribute my good luck to God or to Blaise Pascal? Or should I attribute my luck to just circumstance in the world? I don’t know. But Pascal, of course, tells us why not. Why not believe in God and take a chance?
Like why not? You’ve got nothing to lose. Pascal’s wager. Interesting idea if nothing else. So I think if we reflect on our own lives in a way, you know, why not be positive?
Not in a toxic sense as we’ve spoken about before, but in a positive sense and try to view each day as a new gift and try to create my own luck. Look for the circumstances that are positive and that are going to make my life better. Because, you know, gosh, life is truly filled mostly with pain, with suffering, with loss, with sadness, and, of course, with age as in my case. You know? And you really do have a choice, don’t you?
You do have a choice between making a positive wager or a negative wager as to what will happen with your life. And, you know, the positive wager makes you feel better. So your beliefs that are positive make you feel better. There is no question about this, you know. And I think that’s the stance that I will continue to take in my life.
And once again, the 3 questions, why am I here, what is my mission, what happens when I leave here, Should be coached in positive terms. Why not? Why not? And you know what they say. You know what they say. Critical thinking is necessary probably for luck, to be honest, and critical thinking is great. Good luck to you. You take care. Bye bye.