The Jinx Trap

I used to try to avoid getting jinxed all the time.  Outside of avoiding being that guy, avoiding being jinxed was atop my list of life goals.  And if you live like that, you will be jinxed—all the time.  But I made a conscious decision: I stopped believing in Karma, jinxing, coincidence, all that.  What is going to happen is going to happen, period.  This world is chaos.  Wherever it came from and whoever started it just hit play.  We’re physical bodies bouncing off of each other.  If I tell someone I will run a certain time in a race, or that a first date went splendidly, or that I think I landed the job, but all turns out to be untrue, the failed result is not tied to the disclosure that I thought I would succeeded beforehand.  I don’t care now.  If I’m going for a sub-40 minute 10K run, I’ll tell everyone.  If I think the interviewer will hire me, I’ll say so.  If, after a first date, the girl seems like she’s from my dreams, I’ll tell people.  Maybe she won’t even return my next text and I’ll never see her again, but guess what, I’m not tying that to the fact I told my mom I met my dream girl.  I refuse to do that.

I see a good sports analogy.  In any association of sports, there is a plethora of teams competing to win the title.  All of them say positive things and believe they will win.  One team saying the entire season they will win the championship, will win the championship.  Others saying the exact same thing will bomb, and a few will come up just a tad short.  It’s not jinxing.  What will happen will happen.  If I’ve made ten free throws in a row and I acknowledge it before shooting my 11th, and miss my 11th– I missed my 11th, that’s it.  Whether I acknowledged I’d made ten prior free throws or predicted I would make my 11th before shooting it is irrelevant.  On my 11th free throw, I dribbled the ball three times, spun it in my left hand, lined it up, and shot it the same way as the previous ten. That action is independent of what I said before shooting it, or especially independent of what some announcers said before shooting it.

Same with Karma, phuleeze! First of all, it’s impossible to quantify.  You’re dealing with infinite actions and occurrences.  And unless it’s selectively applied, just a couple of observations debunk the whole concept.  Some people live amazingly benevolent, charitable lives, staying clear of all things harmful to their bodies, yet experience terrible atrocities, random acts of violence, unusual diseases, and death at early ages.  Conversely, some dreadful people who are complete assholes, abuse their bodies, and cause suffering to everyone around them, live long, healthy lives and die rich in their 90s or 100s.  Explain that.  Is Karma suspended in those situations?

The real guiding principle of life is that IT IS NOT FAIR.  That’s it, my friend.  Life is not fair.  It explains everything.  Why did he get the job when I know I’m brighter? Why did she get cancer at 29? Why did my son die in a car accident at 17? How did he get away with that murder?  How did that guy beat me in a race when I trained way harder?  Life’s not fair.  There’s your answer.  I’m not going to float through life walking on egg shells, believing I have to put out the correct vibe.  I’m not going to keep secret my aspirations and doubts or blame anything if I come up short.  I’m just a person in this world trying to make it like everyone else.  If I step up and put my best foot forward, what is going to happen is going to happen.

My Life, Philosophy

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