TRUST IN LUCK

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2646, 27 October 1919, Page 6

TRUST IN LUCK

THE FAITH IN CHARMS. lie who puG his trust in lurk Ix-longs to tho Mic.-nvbeis of life. His ]K>licv is always that of ‘•wailing for something to tin n up.” So writes -Mr It. Gordon Self ridge. the great storekeeper, in the * Daily Despatch.’ For what is this* which is termed luck? The man who places his faith in it seems to regard it as some good spirit that follows him round the world to safeguard his special providence: while in its antithesis, ill luck, he sees an evil spiiit that is perpetually - awaiting an opportunity to displace the gocsl spirit. He would seem to he of the same mind a> the tramp who. on being told by (he pompous householder from whom ho was; begging that “ fortune knocks at every man s door,’' replied : “ \es, sir : hut when he called on me I was out. and ever since then lie's sent his daughter —Miss Fortune." This belief, whete it Ipis a firm hold, is a -.njrerstitioii whoso origin lies far hack in primitive times. Iho savage man, ignoi ant . tilled with fear of the inexplicable nature of his surroundings, attributed all Ids misfortunes to the malign influence of something unknown. The modern nation of luck is a survival of this ancient superstition. Mnl- if luck or ill-luck he regarded not as the malign or benevolent manifestations of something supernatural, but a-' an element of chance, then it does exist. A lotteiy is chance, but it is not luck. Neither is the man who slips on a pavement the sport of the spirit of luck. He is a free agent, but because his eyes were engaged elsewhere he chanced to -top on tin* peel. EUPHEMISM FOli LAZINESS. Here lies the. chief counteraction to belief in luck for all practical men. Such a belief tends to eliminate individual effort and enterprise. The man who reposes undue faith in luck often becomes so imbued with the conception that he will make but futile efforts to gain that which he covets by effort and initiative. _ lie trusts to its arrival by way of luck. This is a pure Micawberistn. And be it noted that the Mi caw be vs are usually the failures in life.

The word I nek is usually an euphemism for laziness. The indolent man invariably relies on luck No confirmed gambler will earn lus living by hard mental or physical labor if he cun avoid such a catastrophe—because he trusts to luck. Luck is nearly allied to fatalism. Both have the same primitive origin. He who believes in the special dispensations of fate, who thinks that whatever must be must be. naturally makes fewer endeavors to ward off approaching disaster that seems inevitable. If he sees good fortune coming he will at any rate take loss trouble to secure it than would the man who trusts to his own ability. So it is with the “ lucky " man. The faith in “ lucky charms ” that has been given such impetus by the war lias tho same genesis. It is the modern equivalent of the pagan god. The average man is a concrete thinker ; the abstract is 100 vague for his mentality. Assuming that he believes in luck, lie cannot grn pthe full significance of his belief unless he has some concrete object on which to pin his vague conception. So ho selects a black cat or some other mascot as the incarnation of his belief. A NUMBING CREED.

Now. it was precisely in this manner that the ancient worship of graven images developed. Man believed in the malign influence of the Unknown : but because he was incapable of conceiving an abstract power he set up an image as its representative.

The superstition is so deeply rooted in Immunity, so firmly attached to the instincts of self-preservation, that in many minds it is ineradicable. a - Moreovcr, the belief in luck constitutes a paradox, in that it generally brings bad luck. Go to the workhouses, and yon will find ample evidence of this truth; visit the prisons, and you will sec there men whose trust in luck has robbed them of their vei v freedom.

So much for the development of the idea of luck. Now what "1 its essence? What is it that makes one man successful in everything ho attempts, while another is a continual failure. It is a matter chiefly of ability. The basis of so called luck is often superior judgment'. Suppose two men under the same conditions are placed before a particular situation. One. by his judgment and imagination, at once sees the possibilities ; the other, whose view is limited, observes nothing beyond the situation. He is like a man with weak eyesight, who fails to discern the details of a line painting which give the clear-sighted man such pleasure. Yet the man who succeeds in this, way is regarded as being “ in hick." TEST OF ABILITY. Many would argue that the fact that- a •‘lucky' - man i.-> in a certain place at a particular time constitutes luck. But it is not luck ; it is chance, Opportunity also plays, a part in soon lied luck. One hears a rumor or observes a sign which another is not- in a position to hear or see. This gives him Ids cue. and he makes a success. "Lucky fellow!’ says Indolence • ‘the seems to have been horn under a lucky stare' But the thinking man says: "That man shows ability; he will do big things." And if you watch his further career you will see that his first opportunity soon gives rise to another. Tv cry step up enables the climber to obtain a new and wider view; it- brings him into contact with further opportunities, which, because he is watchful, he sets, and profits thereby. But his hist opportunity was not luck. The failure might have ’been with him when opportunity approached, hut lieeausu he possessed the more ability he succeeded, while the failure remained a failure. Two men in a. race stait from the same line, but one gets in first because of his superior powers of sjjecd. The man with a vice often desires to See others addicted to tho same vice. So with many of the. failures in life ; unconsciously they seek to find indolence in the successful man by attributing his success to inch.

it: tho lung nm the luck laiiatu; is beaten by the titan wlm uses his bruins. Better is it lt> trust in ability and succeed than l>ut y<,ur faith in' Mic.awbcrism.