The people that we meet, the chances that we get, our interactions with life, are all these pre-determined? Or do we actually get to control our present and the future?
I always thought I was lucky until I wasn't. As a lazy person, I left everything up to luck. And I thought I had things going pretty good until I faced reality: Not all things can be left to luck. I found out late, really.
When my family went overseas last year, that was when I had my "Oh I am so lucky" moment. On the second day of the trip, the driver told us that the spirit of a baby ghost was haunting our youngest sibling, hence the reason he is unable to communicate with us and do things independently. He described the spirit to be stuck in his body, and that his souls had ran away. My parents, firm believers of Buddhism, believed him rather quickly and we spent the next few days going about many temples, with the guide attempting to direct the spirit out of my sibling's body. It didn't work, but till this day, my family still fervently prays for him. Chanting, blessing drinking water and bath water and visiting temples. Although we have yet to see any results (not to be pessimistic, but I feel as if he has gotten worse in terms of his motor skills), I believe my luckiest break to be that moment I heard about the spirit. My friends have called it fake and yet I still insist on thinking the guide was right, probably to fuel my ideology that I am LUCKY. The origin of the spirit started from when it was a rainy day, and the spirit of the young baby boy seeked shelter under a big tree. My mom was pushing my sibling and me in a stroller and we were going past the tree. At that instance, the spirit decided its host would be my sibling. I consider that to be my luckiest break only because the spirit could have went into me instead. Okay, now that I've typed it out, this reads to me as unbelievable. Do you think the guide's words could be true? I myself am unsure, cause all that the guide have said about what happens after the spirit goes into the host body, is true to that of my sibling. Besides, there wasn't a medical reason for his condition either which had always seemed suspicious. Is this time for us to turn to the supernatural world for answers instead? My friend called it a bunch of baloney, beacause, if the guide were so skillful, why would he be a guide and not working in a temple? I am thus conflicted but I tell myself that I don't have to find the answer to everything that's physically unexplainable.
Anyway, the other usual "lucky" stuff I count myself "lucky" for includes meeting my favourite girl in junior college, having such an awesome older sibling, studying a certain subject on a whim, and... narrowly making it through each national exam... not. Honestly, the time I woke up was when I saw my A Level grades LOL. For once I did not have a place to go to, I lost my "even-year streak" (as I called it, because all my national/important exams fell on even years). Although the previous year's PW grade should have rightfully shooken me up, I still lived my life of gaming, chilling and essentially being a very, very, very, very bad student.
Ok, yet again I have admitted my mistakes and hope to be a better student, but what my favourite girl says still rings fresh admist all these nonsensical text. That I did have my moments of reflections before every major exam. And I still failed them all, didn't I.
To answer the very first question on this page: Somewhat. Not really. I don't know???? Or I don't even have to know.
In conclusion, opportunities appear for us to grasp before they slip through our ignorance and we lament about it. All the things that happen in life aren't "luck", I now refer to them as chances and opportunities. I feel blessed. Thank you.
