Hypothetical Bad Luck

It’s said that Lady Luck favours some and neglects others. Take Rincewind in the Discworld series by Terry Prachett for example. He gets magicked all over the disc (and under it o.O), nearly meeting with Death several times, but somehow always avoiding HIM.

Okay, maybe that’s not really the type of luck most of us wish for. There are some among us who curse their luck all the time. If you are not one of them, you’ve probably met someone like that in your life. You know. That person who’s always complaining. Saying things like “SHE got the promotion and NOT ME? I’m ALWAYS so UNLUCKY!” or “How in the world did HE pass the test and NOT ME? Such bad luck!”.

Of course, there are always cases where we humans have to blame Bad Luck. Like when you do your hair up nicely and walk out to meet your date and it suddenly rains on you. But there will obviously be many more times when the ‘unfortunate incident’ should really be attributed to one’s actions or omissions. The website http://www.fmylife.com (which I have mentioned in a previous post) shows that people do, for various reasons, feel that although some incidents in life can only be said to be ‘bad luck’, other ‘misfortunes’ are actually brought upon by that person himself/herself.

There are, of course, those who prefer to look past their own failings and attribute everything that does not go their way to ‘bad luck’. Let’s take a look at two similar scenarios to see how this could happen.

Disclaimer: The following scenarios are purely largely fictional and any similarities to real events are purely probably coincidental.

Oh please. It’s not as if I’m going to make any money off this blog. Or bring utter discredit to someone and irrevocably ruin his/her reputation. And if it happens to do so, please hire me for my great literary skills / ability to ignite people’s imaginations =D.

Scenario 1:

In 1998, X had to attend his sister’s wedding. The groom's parents took a wrong turn and arrived 2 hours late. In the excitement, X did not have his breakfast and suffers from mild gastric discomfort. When everyone had finally gathered and the ceremony was well on its way, X’s aunt, who was suffering from high blood pressure, fainted and had to be brought to the hospital. X had to cancel his plans to meet his crush in the evening because he had to accompany his aunt to the hospital.

In 2003, X gets married. On that day, everyone turns up on time, nothing untoward happens during the ceremony, and everything is concluded by 3pm. X’s sister and brother-in-law leave at 2:30pm because their youngest child is recovering from a serious illness and needs to go home to rest.

X laments, “I have such bad luck! When my sister got married, everyone gave her an entire day of attention. But today, it’s my turn and my sister rushes off from my wedding early to tend to her sick child. I was sick during HER wedding and I stayed the whole way! And all my guests left promptly at 3!”

Scenario 2:

In 1998, X had to attend his sister’s wedding. Due to immaculate planning on her part, the entire wedding went off without a hitch. X had to rush home early to complete his project which was overdue, and could not stay for the buffet lunch.

In 2003, X gets married. It rains heavily on that day and the outdoor wedding which X had planned had to be brought indoors. X’s sister stands at the front gate to guide the guests to the new venue. After the service is over, the hungry guests go to the reception only to find that there is no food — the caterers have gotten lost and will be late. X’s friends arrange for an impromptu performance to keep the guests entertained while they wait for the food to arrive.

X laments, “My sister has all the luck. Her wedding was perfect. Mine had to be ruined by the rain. And I couldn’t even enjoy the great food at her reception because I had to do my final year project.”

Yes, I suppose if you really want to have ‘bad luck’, you can always arrange for it to be so.