Dictionary defines luck as: The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events.
I define luck as chance of integrating probability into what you normally would get.
We use the word "luck" liberally, especially when we fail at something, or when we want to put it mildly that we didn't expect the other guy to make it.
On the other hand we almost forget the word when we are... well... lucky! When mother fortune is kind to us, we owe our success to hardwork, sincerity and other things we think of at the spur of moment... anything except luck.
One can't deny that this 4-lettered word does have a larger than life influence on the world. It makes or breaks a person, his/her fortune or life. Luck can deliver a blessing or a disaster. We attribute the success of many stars and celebrities through luck, though it usually is a lot more than that.
In a small world, surrounding us; everyone would have personal experiences or at least seen cases where in everything we did was right and the result was just opposite. Many other times we would do the needful and wait for mother luck to tip the result in our favour.
I can attribute the influence of luck to question two things:
1. Is luck alone enough to get us through life?
2. If hardwork and efforts are needed, still why does it all comes down again to luck?
An apt example I can think of is applying to colleges for Grad studies. After taking the efforts of studying well, scoring high in acads and GRE and completing the apping process well, it comes down to a single factor that decides your admission.
As we grow up, life is becoming more dependent on one issue - Luck. Contrasting with our childhood where in our parents encouraged us to do things, saying, "if you do this well, then you get this"... many things in life no longer has the same cause-effect relation. "if you do this well, then you qualify for a game of chance. sit down and hold tight". Through experience we learn that it is no longer enough to be capable, efficient and hardworking... there is one undeniable factor which tops it all. From study to work to life to everything... luck has the final word.
BUT it still gives a sense of pride and satisfaction, when we put in our efforts to the best level and if luck fails us. It is any day satisfying than when we do nothing, but just get lucky. And this sense of fulfillment makes life worth living, and efforts worth investing... for we take the challenge put forth by luck, on the face, and dare it to change things for us. We put everything we have, to prove that hardwork does spell success. And in this battle against luck, we sometimes win, sometimes lose. But even losing at that stage is still a success!
the end.
P.S. inspired by the H1B lottery system for 2007.
