Do all you can do and then cross your fingers…
My Take:
It is indeed THE most important thing in anyone’s life. Keep the education, the talent, the genius, the experience, the hard work, the persistence, the ambition, the attitude, the faith, and anything else that you think makes one happy or successful. I’ll take the LUCK!
Dennis Prager has a little more to say about it:
Posted: August 03, 2010 By Dennis Prager
There’s a lot of luck in life.
The longer I live – Aug. 2 was my birthday – the more I come to realize how much of life is affected by luck.
Let’s begin with life itself. Whether one lives to 62 – or to 92 (my father’s age) – and whether in health or in sickness is largely a matter of luck.
I strongly believe in taking care of one’s health, but, for most people, living long and in good health is a matter of good luck.
My wife’s sister died of cancer at 35. The brother of my radio show’s producer died of a brain tumor at 57. Friends of mine lost their son at the age of 13.
None of these people did anything “wrong.” Whether you get a brain tumor or not is identical to whether you win at roulette. Either the ball falls on your number or it doesn’t.
There is not enough space in a column for a discussion of theodicy, the problem of reconciling a good God with unjust suffering. Suffice it to say, then, that I believe God exists; that He is just; that for reasons I cannot understand, He made a world in which injustice abounds; that He knows every one of us and that He works out these injustices in an afterlife.
But whatever one’s view of God’s role (except that He directs every single thing that happens), luck permeates life.
As for the notion that “we make our own luck” through hard work and responsible living, it is only partially true. You can do all the right things in life and still not end up successful. And many people do a lot of wrong things and end up quite lucky. I know great parents who have a very troubled child, and dysfunctional parents who have magnificent children. I will never forget overhearing someone say to my father after I gave a lecture, “You must have been a terrific father to produce such a son.” And my father simply answered, “I was lucky.”
Read Complete Post at
