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Luck is a term that is tossed around pretty carelessly in today's society. There are probably not many days that go by that one does not hear the word luck. Webster defines luck as the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual. This definition splits luck into two categories by using the words for and against. If we update the definition to today the word for would equal good luck, and the word against would equate to bad luck. The noun luck usually carries an adjective in front of itself (good/bad). The question is where does this luck come from? Why do some people seem to have better luck than others?

To start I would like to analyze good luck into a little detail. If someone wins the lottery this would fall under the category of good luck. In most people's eyes when someone is faced with a circumstance that presents itself with unfavorable odds for a certain outcome and that outcome happens, good luck is tagged to this happenstance, which is what happens when someone wins the lottery. I have no problem with this concept, but why does good luck is usually only attributed to statistically less probable outcomes? Just because the probabilities of a circumstance are in your favor and the outcome id favorable as well this is still good luck, for the simple fact that bad luck could have been the outcome. For example, if one is playing poker and has a 95% chance of winning the pot with one hand to go, he is a huge favorite to win. After the last card falls and does not help the opposing player the statistical favorite wins the hand. The player with the 95% chance of winning the pot still needs to recognize the circumstance as good luck for the simple fact that he had a 5% chance of experiencing bad luck.

Bad luck is probably the more common for of luck, but humans are naturally a negative species, so an evaluation of what should fall under bad luck is needed. In the poker example used previously assume that the player with the 5% chance of winning hit his card and won the pot. The opposing player would have experienced bad luck. Now assume that someone is diagnosed with cancer. This too would fall under the category of bad luck. The question that I would like to present is; can a series of bad luck eventually equal good luck? Assume that one is diagnosed with heart, lung, and pancreatic cancer during a lifetime. Many people would say that this person has had a series of bad luck. Now the same person goes on with life and ends up living longer than the average life expectancy. Would this not be good luck? Yes they have experienced some bad luck throughout life, but doesn't the bad luck end up balancing out with an extended life?

People with go through life and experience both good and bad luck. The reality is how each person labels the circumstances' that they have been faced with. Just remember that a series of bad luck could actually end up being a form of good luck, it is necessary to analyze what one labels as good/bad luck and then evaluate whether he/she has an equal balance of both forms of so called luck.

Learn more about this author, Bryan Love.
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