Superstition

I’m not superstitious, generally speaking. I don’t’ really believe the team I root for will start to lose just because I turned on the game. I may think it but I don’t really believe it!

I don’t believe that anyone cares what shade of pale nail polish I wear but when I have an interview coming up, I generally opt for “In the Bag” over “Fed Up”, both colors on my manicurist’s rack. Obviously, this practice doesn’t work; I’m still unemployed.

My mother once called me when I was at college. She had run into a friend and spent several minutes singing my praises. She now said she wanted me to tie a piece of red thread – a red “bendel” – around my bra strap. She was afraid she’d given me a kenehurah: Yiddish for the evil eye, sort of. I think it’s worse in Yiddish. I can recall laughing at her request. I can’t recall if I did it. But I remember feeling very nervous as I walked to class.

I have a friend who goes ballistic whenever anyone sends him a chain letter that promises either good luck or extreme misfortune if you don’t forward it to at least X number of people. Now this one worked! But the reply I received from him was so scathing that it soaked up all the other bad luck that might have been waiting for me. I now make it a policy to delete without reading any email I get that even looks like it might be a chain letter. So, if you’ve tried to reach me later and I haven’t responded, try again, but only if didn’t involve a mandatory forward or not-so-veiled threat.

So I don’t really believe our meaningless actions spell dire consequences for things we can’t control. My mother’s back is fine although I step on cracks routinely. In fact, if I step on a crack with my left foot, I usually adjust my stride to step on another with my right as soon as possible. If I spill some salt, I refuse to toss some more over my shoulder because that would just mean one more mess to clean up and I don’t like to clean.

I don’t believe that if you drink and drive, the accident you have is bad luck. However, if a deer commits suicide by fender, your luck stinks regardless of your level of sobriety. So it is that I believe you can contribute to your luck by positive acts.

I just don’t know what they are anymore. Hmmmm…..