Today’s headline for our column comes from the famous Clint Eastwood movie Dirty Harry. Eastwood utters the line after about five minutes of gunfire and mayhem. One of the bad guys lies wounded in a doorway when the lead, Harry Callahan, asks him that famous line on whether he still has any bullets left in his gun. The wounded villain gives up and blurts out, “I gotta know,” to which Callahan pulls the trigger on his cannon of a handgun to demonstrate that it is out of ammo. I guess this means the bad guy was lucky. This begs the question, “What is luck.” To me, he was a wounded criminal on his way to a long stint in prison. Doesn’t sound lucky to me.
I consider myself lucky. I have had a blessed life. Yes, I have had times that were stressful, demanding, challenging, and complicated (have I used enough adjectives yet?). I have also had things go the “right” way for me more times than not. So, I do feel lucky.
I don’t know if luck is a real thing. There are those people who declare that a person makes their own luck. It is not an energy in the universe that randomly selects specific individuals on this planet to experience good fortune. Is the person who wins the billion-dollar jackpot in a lottery luckier than the guy who finds his car keys after an hour looking for them? Since I found my keys and finally headed off to my golf game, I’m feeling pretty damn lucky. After my round, I may have a different opinion while paying off my golf bets. It was unlucky that the water hazard was in the path of my shot, even though it was sixty yards left of my target. Not a mistake, just a misfortune.
Today’s subject came to me when my wife and I discovered a huge wall mirror we own that needs to be repaired. I started to wonder. Does the person who does the mirror repair have some dispensation in case he breaks the mirror during repairs? I hope so. If you are superstitious and believe that breaking a mirror will bring you seven years of bad luck, why would you take such a job? Is there some form that spells out that by accepting the position in mirror repair, the person doing the job will be exempt from any misfortune that might happen while doing the job? How about getting a job in a ladder factory? Can you honestly tell me that you will never walk under a ladder while working in such a factory? Or are all these superstitions just made up to cover human mistakes? After extensive research (I gave a call to my very superstitious aunt), I have compiled a list of the many superstitions that guide people’s lives in today’s world. I guess I was lucky that she was home when I called.
One of the most common is Friday the 13th. Did you know that Spain, Greece, and Georgia (the country being harassed by Russia and not the state) believe Tuesday the 13th is bad luck? Knowing this dilutes that superstition. I can not recall a time I had any bad luck on a Friday the 13th…except when I went and saw one of the films in the terrible, horror series. In my effort to thwart the myth that the number thirteen is unlucky, I wear that number whenever I am issued one for any of the sports ventures I’m involved in. I can say I have had no bad luck as a result. The fact that I never made it to the major leagues in the sport I love and have been reduced to playing in a senior softball league while falling down more than making plays has nothing to do with it.
One event that might make me believe that there is luck and bad luck would be when a black cat ran in front of the Chicago Cubs dugout when they were playing the New York Mets in Shea Stadium in August of 1969. The Cubs had a huge lead in the standings at the time and were on their way to their first appearance in the postseason since 1945. It looked like they were going to break the curse of the billy goat (that’s a story for another time). After that incident, the Cubs went on a historic slide and failed to make it to the World Series. It took another 47 years before they finally broke through and finally won a championship. As a result, I am not a fan of black cats or billy goats.
I am sure we are all familiar with other forms of luck or bad luck. Does a four-leaf clover really bring a person luck? Does stepping on a crack break your mother’s back? I have stepped on cracks, and never once did my mother complain about having a broken back. In the theatrical community, to convey wishes of good fortune to a performer, you tell them to break a leg. If you say good luck, that is bad luck. Breaking your leg seems like a case of terrible luck. If the actor breaks their leg, they are most likely out of the play for an extended period. Did someone wish them good luck before going on stage, which is why they broke their leg? I’m so confused.
I knew someone who would say, “Find a penny, pick it up. All the day, you’ll have good luck.”
I discovered that there is a reverse side to that. Did you know that picking up a penny, tails side up, is bad luck? Considering how worthless a penny is nowadays, most people pass by any pennies lying in the street. I consider loose change on the street supplemental income to my retirement plan. I don’t care which side is facing up. I’m cheap and willing to risk the consequences for picking up a wrong-sided penny so I can hand the clerk exact change when I buy a Big Gulp Diet Coke later in the day. Just ignore the fact that I dumped the Big Gulp in the front seat of my car. I got a couple of sips out of it first.
As a public service, I will list a few more things that are considered unlucky, just in case you happen upon them. Placing a hat on a bed. If this is true, I’m in trouble. I wear a hat all the time and flip it on the bed all the time. Another is if you spill salt. You’ll always see people in restaurants flipping the spilled salt over their shoulders. It might be unlucky. How many people have slipped on a pile of salt on the floor in a restaurant? Opening an umbrella indoors. I happen to know a young fellow who has a leak in his bedroom ceiling, and the people responsible for the roof repair can’t get it corrected. His bad luck is the leak over his bed, not the open umbrella he uses to stay dry.
In conclusion, I am on the fence if there is luck in this world or not. On the days I believe in luck, I head to the mini-mart and buy a bunch of tickets for the lottery, now over $600 million. If something great happens for me, it’s not luck; it’s because of my awesome ability and talent. So, I will ask you one more time: “Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?”
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