Good Luck
My most unreliable friend ever
Yesterday I caught up with old friends and colleagues.
Lots of hugs, laughter and sharing. I guess we finally got to that age when it’s Okay to act our true selves and share warm and not so warm memories together. When time passes, even not so warm memories somehow change their color and seem a nicer shade of blue.
It’s not that we weren’t interested in the future. All people are, always.
It’s just that with age we came to realize that the future is uncertain, has always been. It was us, the young people, who forcefully imposed our plans onto the unpredictable future and thought we won when the future pretended to be playing along.
And when the future, hiding a sinister smile, refused to play along and disrupted everything that we hoped and planned for, we said, oh well, life happens.
Those of us who had fewer ‘life happens’ moments were perceived winners. It was much later when we realized that life was teasing us.
There are no winners or losers when luck comes into play. There are those who were wise enough to get on good terms with Luck and those who never took the time to get to know Luck better.
We, who are good friends with Luck, still have very different stories to tell about what Luck is like.
Elusive Luck.
It seems to be changing appearances, behavior and tone when speaking with different people. A very smart approach, I must say, Luck might make an excellent communications specialist.
Those who didn’t make it out with Luck feel left out. This comes through in their appearance, the way they smile, speak and think, the way they turn around to look at you — sadness in their eyes.
How do you tell someone that their sadness and regret could fade away and their life might have been very different if only they smiled at Luck back then, so that Luck could smile back? How do you tell someone who thought they were born a winner that Luck doesn’t chase and please people, it’s the other way around, always? How do you tell them that figuring out how to befriend Luck is a life journey that requires dedication and trust?
I wish I could bring my Luck along and introduce it to someone in a desperate need of good fortune, but I’m afraid Luck appears as and when it pleases, always changing appearances and always elusive.
I’m afraid bringing my own version of Luck won’t make things better, either. It’s like thoughtlessly mixing bright colors all together only to get something grayish blah on white paper.
Looking back at my relationship with Luck, it’s hard to give an algorithm. Undefined concepts and relationships on the edge of the impossible require creative approaches. Creativity and linear logical processes don’t live together well, they don’t even speak with each other.
Luck, like Love, can’t be defined, mapped out, boxed in and locked up. Written down in a step-by-step process for future generations to use. Alas.
But one thing I know for sure. It’s never too late, for anyone, to start on the journey of tuning into their own trusting relationship with Luck.
