DO YOU BELIEVE IN LUCK?

DO YOU BELIEVE IN LUCK?
An Editorial By Cynthia Vespia

St. Patricks Day is upon us. The little green leprechauns and four leaf clovers associated with the holiday are supposed to bring luck. No disrespect but I’ll drink down the Guinness and make my own luck. There’s a motto, you may have heard it, goes a little something like this: preparedness meets opportunity. In other words when the opportunity comes along for you to realize your dreams and goals you are prepared to meet them. It has nothing to do with luck. There’s no magic formula. It takes time, energy, and mountains of persistence to get to where you want to be in life.
On the recent telecast of the Academy Awards Oprah Winfrey told the story of how Gabourey Sidibe had been struggling to pay for college when she happened to hear about a casting call for a little movie called Precious. She proceeded to skip school that Monday to try out for the part. Tuesday they called her back in. Wednesday she got the part. And the rest is movie history. But was it luck? To me I see it as opportunity taken advantage of. Gabby took a risk and it paid off…BIG TIME!
When something good happens in your life why not own it? You worked hard to get there why give luck all the credit?
Sometimes risks don’t pay off but they are worth trying. You learn something from the experience regardless, but at least you gave it a try and if it doesn’t work for whatever reason then you try something else. But you have to be willing to take a chance. Living small or living in fear isn’t really living at all. And life is there for living. No one ever regrets doing something; it’s always what you don’t do that brings regret.
There is a show on MTV called The Buried Life. It follows four young men on their journey across country to basically live their lives to the fullest. They’ve fashioned a list of 100 things to do before they die and they are adamant about crossing each one of those items off no matter how outlandish it might seem. When they told people they wanted to play basketball with Barrack Obama they were laughed at. But they took the chance and they came within inches of realizing that goal, even as far as speaking directly to Obama’s right hand man Reggie Love.
I’m using references from pop culture because right now I see two trends developing with people. The ones who are embracing the negative effects of the economy, global warming, and the natural disasters that have recently struck the world at large and those who, despite all that, are still making a go of their lives.
The only security in life comes from knowing that every single day you are doing something to improve yourself in the direction towards your goals. Playing it safe doesn’t stop bad things from happening, so you might as well go for it! Pressures on, times a ticking. Make your own luck and make your own life exactly the way you want it to be so that one day you find that pot of gold.


 Cynthia Vespia is the author of thrillers and fantasy novels. Nominated for Best Series in 2009 for Demon Hunter. Find out more at the official site: www.CynthiaVespia.com