Some people have it, some don't.
Typically, I fall into the “don't” category.
It has been called the luck of the Irish, or having a horsehoe placed somewhere that would make sitting (and doing everything else for that matter) most uncomfortable.
Some people just have a lucky streak a mile wide.
I know one guy who, no matter what stupid decisions he makes, no matter what he says, does or doesn't do, he always comes out smelling like a rose.
“Oh, c'mon now, he can't always come out on top” you may be thinking.
Well I have known this guy (he is a bit of a jerk so I will not call him a friend) for more than 30 years and I am here to testify that if he were to fall into a pit full of vipers, he would climb out petting a kitten.
He has had – and quit – more good-paying, easy jobs than most people could dream of. He would then step right into another good-paying job with plenty of future without even really trying.
He has never been to college, never took a course beyond high school in his life, but the jobs just kept falling into his lap.
I hate him. OK, hate might be a little strong, but so is my dislike for him.
It is not just the fact he can quit a job Friday and have a better job Monday. There are plenty of other reasons why I hate, er, I mean strongly dislike the guy, but that is for another column.
Today we are talking about luck and why some people don't have it and some douchebags do.
I have won a couple things over the years, so I am not totally void of the thrill of victory.
In Grade 5, I won the class raffle for a large Jack-O-Lantern. My first win ever.
I was thrilled as could be with my Halloween prize, except on the way home several of the class bullies jumped me, smacked me around for a bit and smashed the stupid thing into oblivion.
With that, I was not so thrilled.
I came very close to winning the lottery once. I had five numbers plus the extra so instead of winning $2.8 million, I won 130 bucks.
Don't get me wrong, I was happy with the win – it did allow me to buy a new backtire for my motorcycle – but in the back of my mind I was calculating how many tires a cool $2.8 mill. would buy.
While I may not have won big that day, I did meet a lady several years ago who broke out of the loser circle and took home a shiny, new Harley Davidson motorcycle.
It was some sort of fundraiser and the top prize was a Milwakee V-twin. People were buying five, 10 tickets at a crack in hopes of winning the bike.
When I asked this lady how many tickets she purchased she sheepishly said, “One.”
To purchase even that single ticket, she had to dig to the bottom of her purse to come up with the $20. That made her win even better.
She almost looked embarassed to have won with a single entry, but I gave her a high five and we all spent the next few minutes checking out her new set of wheels.
It was the first thing she had ever won in her life, so there more high fives all the way around.
It was good to see one of us non-winning people actually win something, especially something as cool as a new Harley.
Perhaps there is hope yet.
Copyright 2015, Darren Handschuh
No comments:
Post a Comment