We commonly speak of good luck and bad luck and talk of people being lucky or unlucky and of things happening by pure chance. Yet science tells us there is no such thing as chance or luck. According to the law of cause and effect, every happening has a cause. Not a leaf falls, not a wind blows, not a flower opens without a reason. But we still use the word chance to describe happenings the reason of which we do not know. When such apparently causeless happenings are favourable to us, we say they are lucky; when unfavourable we call them unlucky.
All purely gambling games are games of chance. They are not decided by skill or forethought but simply by the happening of something we cannot control, like the fall of a coin or the turning up of a certain card. No doubt then this is the reason why when we spin a coin it is cometimes ‘heads and sometimes ‘tails’. But if we are playing fairly we cannot discover the reason and so we cannot control the coin.
So, we say that its turning up heads or tails is simply a matter of luck or chance.
Ignorance is the mother of superstition. When people do not know when a thing happens in a certain way,they attribute its happening to good or bad luck. People to whom pleasant things often happen are called ‘lucky’ and those who seem to be always meeting with unpleasant happenings are called unlucky; as if there were something in themselves that attracts good or bad fortune. They even think that inanimate things can bring them good or bad luck. So they wear charms to keep away misfortune and are reakky nervous if they pass under a ladder or see the new moon in a certain month.
There is really no such thing as luck or chance, and only foolish people waste their time in waiting for a miracle of good luck to bring them a fortune and success. The wise men will try to attain it by hard work, wise effort and enterprise and will leave nothing to chance. Most of the people who are called ‘lucky’have good fortune because they work for it, and the so- called ‘ unlucky’ men miss it because they are lazy or dull. Their efforts are not well – directed. They need better approch to attain success.
There is an old fable of the certain carter whose cart stuck in the mud and who prayed to Hervules the ‘ God of strength’ to get it out for him. Hercules answered the prayer with ‘ put your own shoulder to the wheel, man.’”the carter took the advice and he and his bullocks got the cart out of the rut.
There are many inspiring life stories of men who by their own unaided efforts fought their way up from hardship to success. It was their own patience, perseverance and hard work that in the end made them the men they became.
Have you heard of william Quarrier is the founder of a great orphanage near Glasgow in United Kingdom. He has rescued thousands of poor orphan children and helped them start a better life.
William Quarrier was a self – made man. He was born in 1829. hi father died when william was only a few months old. His widowed mother was left behind to look after three little children. Those were hard days of poverty. Willie never went to school. At six he was earning a shillimg ( a few palse) a week at pin – making and at seven he became an apprentice to a shoemaker. It was at that tender age that he made the great resolve of his life. One night he left his poverty – stricken home. Where the family had scarcely any food for two days at a stretch. He was too proud o beg, but as he stood by a lamp- post, he wistfully hoped that some kind soulwould see his miserable condition and help. But none did. He felt very bitter and he vowed that, when he would he would grow up and have money of his own, he would help poor and hungry urchins.
He kept his vow. As a young boy, he worked hard at his shoe- making, educating himself in his spare time. He became the support of the family. When he was twenty- three, he set up a business of his own. His business did well. At last his hard his hard work and honest efforts bore fruit. He became very rich and prosperous. But his aim was not to become a rich man, but to carry out his scheme fo rescuing poor homeless children. He wanted pound 20,000 ( twenty thousand pound) to start a home for orphans. He made known his plan in the ‘ newspaper’ and help cae. He begain by taking in three ragged orphans, but in a few years he had a home sheltering 200 homeless children.
Thus, not only did he help himself but also gave a ray of hope to so many other destitutes. It was not a stroke of luck, but it was sheer hard work and his own efforts. He was well – motivated to achieve a goal and he did it. Therefore, you have to motivate yourself to achieve good result and put in your best continued efforts. You too will become a lucky person. You can make yourself either ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ through your efforts. A great thinker has said, there is no such thing as luck. It’s a fancy name for being always at our duty, and so sure to be ready when good time come. Hope nothing from luck and the probability is that you will be so prepared, forewarned and forearmed that all shallow observers will call you lucky.
‘On the contrary,ill-luck is, in nine cases out of ten, the result of saying pleasure first, and duty second, instead of duty first and pleasure second.’