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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (53683)	11/20/2006 1:05:06 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

I have known too many people that have consciously placed themselves in a position to be in the right place at the right time (and then credited their success to luck) to believe that luck is purely random. For instance if a person moderates their lifestyle they are much more likely to be lucky enough to be enjoying life at 85. If a person invests in the stock market they have infinitely more chance of being "lucky" in it than a person who does not. "If one means by 'luck' the 'random' chance which strikes people for good or bad, then it is probably a conceit to consider ourselves in control of it." People will always use words differently than the dictionary intends. Just be aware that when a person credits their success to luck, it is often either modesty or a wish to avoid criticism for their success. Random chance can be manipulated too. For instance, I have never bought a lottery ticket so my chance of 'winning' the lottery is near zero. A person who buy hundreds each week may be making a horrible investment decision, but they have an exponentially higher chance of 'winning' it than I do. Thus they can be said to make their own luck.