I was going to go to bed but I started reading blogs like I always do and I started thinking about something I was thinking about 3 days ago in the car. I was reflecting back on my life and was trying to decide if I was a lucky person or a fortunate one. If anyone here has ever done that you'll know that is isn't an easy thing to discover. What does it mean to be fortunate? What does it mean to be lucky? Before you can decide if you're fortunate or lucky you really have to have a strong grasp on understanding the difference between the two.
What is fortune? What does it mean to be fortunate? I'm not even going to look it up, I'm going to give you my definition of fortune and luck since it'll be the same definition I use for life. Being fortunate to me means despite how bad things get, no matter how hard life may be there is always a small sparkle of light in there that outshines all the bad. I also think of being fortunate as being able to learn new things, accept new ideas and having an open mind and a willingness to try new things and meet new people. How is luck different? Being lucky is merely a false light in the dark times of life, it's a sparkle of light that doesn't last long at all. Lets say I'm behind on my bills and I'm about to be kicked out of my apartment. If I were lucky I would win money in a contest or my landlord screwed up the billing and legally I get to keep the apartment for another month for free. My problem is fixed but only temporarily and there's a chance that in the future I'll be even more screwed since I didn't learn anything. What if the next month I still didn't have any money and ended up losing the money I did have on the lottery in hopes of repeating what happened or the landlord fixed the billing and now I have to pay for 2 months rent. My problem comes back and in a big way. If I were fortunate then I found a roommate who could help me cut the bill in half into a manageable sum or I worked extra hard at work and got a raise, enough extra money to make the payment. I would have made a new friend or I would have a permanent raise in the my paycheck and looked good for my boss which could help me in the future. I hope that example was enough to give a good definition, now is the time to decide. Are you a fortunate person or have you just been a lucky person?
What sparked my initial thought about if I have been fortunate or lucky was that I got to start hanging out with a girl I went to high school with. We were in the debate class together and we were close but nothing ever came of it. Well we started hanging out again and after learning some new things about her and much discussion we have set up a pretty sweet deal that I don't want to go into details about here in the blog, but it'll benefit us both. Don't worry, it's nothing sleazy or bad so it's all good. I learned something from that, in life probably the hardest thing we'll face (this may just be a first world thing since I imagine people living in poverty face harder situations) in our lives is finding people with similar interests with our own. I asked myself later in the car, was I lucky enough to have met this girl, or was I fortunate enough to meet her?
Let's not forget many other moments in life where I could have either been fortunate or lucky. The one winter 2 years ago when I wrecked my wagon when I slipped on the ice into a hillside and rolled it twice. Was I lucky enough to walk away from the accident without a single scratch (Literally, I was 100% not harmed in the crash but the car was totaled) or was I fortunate enough to walk away from the accident unharmed? Was it luck or fortune when my step mom survived her cancer surgery and is still alive with us today? Was it luck or fortune when I almost went to prison for pulling a knife on a kid in middle school and ended up getting only probation? I'd say in my life while it may seem like I've been a lucky person, I'd say I've been fortunate because no matter what hardships I've faced or how I overcame them, I always learned something. I always learned a lesson, or something about myself and developed as a person. Luck isn't all bad, sometimes it's a great pick-me-up but in the long run I'd rather be fortunate than lucky any day of the week.
