Bestwifeever
Moderator Emeritus
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2007
- Messages
- 17,774
In some ways, one's fate is like a chess game. More specifically, a single move early on can have a huge impact on the outcome. When it comes to luck (or a planned move), it's like in chess early on I may move a pawn up one which at first seems like such an insignificant move but turn out to make all the difference.
A more real life experience, for me, in my junior year in high school, while meeting with my dean, she said a course you want to take is typing. At that time, the class seemed unimportant compared to other classes. But in the end typing was a very helpful class -- think...college term papers, punched computer cards, resumes, computer programing. Had I not taken typing, might the outcome have been different? Was I lucky? Or was that like a small planned move in a chess game? The choice could have been either.
Chess is a good analogy but maybe poker or any other card game would be closer--in chess both sides start with the same pieces and the same strategies available at the beginning of the game, but in a card game you get what's dealt to you vs. what's dealt to others. That's the "luck" part--what you're dealt when you're born, say. Then you play the game, and some people with crappy cards (say, bad parents, whatever) are able to win it all, while some with the best cards manage to lose. That's the careful planning and hard work--but even then, you might have bad luck in what's played against you (that might be like someone who worked hard and well but for a company that went bankrupt).