Opinion

Friday the 13th brings luck

Zach Lee
Opinion Columnist

Another Friday the 13th is behind us and almost all of us are still here, unharmed and undaunted. In fact, most of us have lived through many of these days said to be full of bad luck.

While ancient explanations for Friday the 13this unlucky reputation range from Adamis bite into the forbidden fruit to a French kingis betrayal of his knights, there seems to be a dearth of modern examples. Aside from Jasonis massacres, not much seems to be related to this day. Itis a regular day.

People go to the store, rent movies, play sports and act normal. I even turned 13 on Friday the 13th, and I turned out fine. Of course, every time the sixth day of the week lands on the 13th, I must admit, I get a little excited and so do a lot of people. Why is that?

The easy answer is that we are obsessed with tragedy. We are the same people who cause traffic jams while slowing to search for bodies in a wreck across the road. Maybe we believe in the bad luck because we want to see it happen to other people.

I donit think so. I think we believe in bad luck because we want it to happen to us. I donit mean that every one of us wants to be a tragic hero, but we all want to believe in supernatural things. Whether itis God, spirits, love or Santa Claus, we all want to believe in something we canit see or prove. Luck is the same way. You just donit have to attribute it to any one source, and of course, as a whole, we tend to accept tragedy before success. So in combination bad luck is by far the easiest thing for us to believe in.

Think about it. The smallest things in life can be attributed to good or bad luck such as finding a dollar or tripping on your shoelace. Big things can also be attributed to luck -- stumbling onto gold in the 1940s or breaking your leg just before a big basketball game. Everything can be attributed to luck, and, unlike crediting or blaming things on God, luck doesnit require any kind of faith. Just belief in coincidences, and who can deny those?

Friday the 13th is just a Sabbath to those who want to believe in something and not someone, and thereis nothing wrong with that. They say that we donit have enough spirituality in our lives. They say to live a full life and that we should all believe in something greater than ourselves. They say that will make us happy. I doubt they take into account all the people who walk around ladders, avoid black cats and kiss their ceilings at yellow lights. Superstitions may be a little silly sometimes, and the reasons for believing in them may be shoddy to nonexistent, but the fact is that people believe.

On Friday the 13th, I didnit slip and fall, didnit get in a car wreck and didnit lose my favorite book. I turned 19. Nothing really went wrong. But the next Friday the 13th, Iill be just a little excited because I feel a little lucky.

Lee, a sophomore English major, can be reached at aliquidsoldier@hotmail.com.