I Believe In Luck

Luck is many times considered silly or just part of someone’s imagination, but it can really play a big role in what becomes of an individual. In the first chapter, titled “The Matthew Effect”, we

Joseph Conrad once said, “It is the mark of an inexperienced man not to believe in luck”. Nailer, the main character of Paolo Bacigalupi’s book Ship Breaker, wasn’t born lucky, he was born a ship breaker. Ship breakers are child and adult laborers who spend their days starving, poor, and working away to take the anything valuable off old ships for the big companies. Throughout Nailer’s life, he has suffered through various unfortunate events. However, with a strong belief of luck and having other superstitions, his life becomes more manageable. In Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi demonstrates that being superstitious and believing in various degrees of luck allows people to more easily feel in control of uncontrollable situations.

When most people think of the American Dream they often visualize the typical white fence, the two children, and an overall perfect family. When people think of the American Dream they think of the dream jobs which consist of being a doctor, lawyer, or a widely known talk show host. The people who have the voice determine what is ideal in society and what isn’t. They try to sell you this pitch that the American Dream is obtainable and what you put in to the system, you get out; This is also know as meritocracy. The thought of achieving the American Dream through success and social mobility is the misinformed interpretation what the upper middle class likes to say, however its easier to say that when climbing the class ladder is a lot more difficult when born into a low advantaged family. It is absolutely impossible to reach the American Dream unless you are among the wealthy. Circumstances that work against an individual only further hinders any opportunity that person may have to “obtain” the American Dream. Negative factors not working in your favor will most likely determine your undesirable future and having a role model, such as Oprah, who seemingly embodies the American Dream, will lead to the unrealistic dream that her status is actually attainable. Some of the key elements we consider essential to achieving success, are now impractical and misleading, proving the many flaws in our American Dream that make it impossible to obtain.

There are times in life that we attribute good luck to our hard work, dedication or talent but there are some other times when we can say that luck is just a chance that we get. As we can see on the work of this two authors James H. Austin the author of “Four kinds of chance” published in Saturday Review and Robert H. Frank author of “why luck matters much more than you think” published in The Atlantic (May 2016) they show the reader how chances can influence in different ways. After reading their work I consider Robert H Frank article more effectively fulfills his thesis.

When people are born at the right time, this is not an example of being lucky or a chance at something. This is not luck is because it sets people up for future opportunities. The foundation of a chance of opportunities is created when a person is born at the right time. If people are born too late or too early, they may miss any future opportunities. For example, in a study Gladwell looks at, he states that “ They [Kelly Bedard and Elizabeth Dhuey] found that among fourth graders, the oldest children scored somewhere between four and twelve percentile point better than the youngest children”(28). This study was conducted through the TIMMS (math and science test given to children every four years around the world). The women who conducted the study found that younger children

When a person is lucky, it does not have to mean that they are fortunate with money. Luck is the chance for things to go the way you want them to go with out having any control over the situation. In The Rocking Horse Winner, Hester, the mother seems to believe that luck is strictly having money, and when there is no money, there is no luck. Hester's idea of luck meaning money brings forth the two ideas of greed and death throughout the story.

I believe in good karma. Some may say that it's just a coincidence that one gets a sort of reward after doing something good for others, but I am sure it's good karma paying us back for our actions.

As Confucius once said “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” For me, this quote applies itself for my preparing for college. Getting ready to apply to college is a process that started the first day of my freshman year, and there are a lot of things I need to do to pursue my dreams.

People achieve their goals through hard work. Michael Jordan isn't great basketball player because he was born that way. Marissa Mayer, a former Google executive, didn't get to her spot without any effort. When I started playing guitar, I didn't learn the instrument without any work. Instead of luck, it's through dedication, perseverance, and commitment that people succeed.

The most overall successful people in the world didn’t simply follow a straight path to success. As human beings, there are more than enough mountains to climb and fears to overcome. I have found myself in some of the most difficult situations at times and I somehow made my way out of them with tougher skin to work with. Through these seemingly insurmountable challenges, I persevered and have found that there is hardly any such thing as luck. There is only hard work and laziness.

The article “Why the right hides from its own good luck” by Meghan Daum discusses the opinions of luck. This will all be about why luck is crucial. The article on the topic of luck, entitled Why the right hides from its own good luck by Meghan Daum affirms about the personal views of luck: being fortunate is vital in life, not recognizing fortune would lead to struggles, and being from the United States when a refrigerator and vaccine exist.

She may be in the spotlight right now, but that was never the case with her. Oprah’s mother was a teenage mother who had her in the 1950s. She had a very troubled childhood. She was sexually assaulted by her mother’s male family members and friends. Eventually she moved to live with her dad who was a barber and a businessman. She was always told she wouldn’t ever be able to go to college not only because she was a girl but because she was black, even though girls were able to do whatever they wanted in the 70s and segregation ended in the 60s. In 1971 she attended Tennessee State and started on her school’s radio and eventually stared in her own TV program. She is another person who beat the odds. She was an African American woman in the 1960-1970s. She was continuously told she would never go to college, but against all odds, she made

Becoming prepared for the responsibilities your about to take on can be overwhelming, but in the end you will be rewarded with success in your future, if the proper steps to getting there are taken.

Winfrey now views the strict standards of discipline and guidelines set forth by her grandmother and later by her father and stepmother as defining factors in who she has become (Lowe, 1998). Oprah’s father once said, “There are those who make things happen. There are those who watch things happen, and there are those who do not know what is happening” (Lowe, 1998, p.15). Oprah chose to be one of those who made things happen.

The first century Roman philosopher Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” A lot of folks have echoed that sentiment over the millennia. Luck favors those who don’t depend upon it. Sure, some things are mostly about luck. Las Vegas comes to mind. But mostly, we must make our own luck by taking advantage of every opportunity we recognize or create.