LUCK HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT (Or did it?)

As far back as I can remember I have always worked hard and followed all the rules. At high school when all my friends were going to football games and dances I was working at part time jobs. Later when many others were dating and enjoying themselves I went to collage to learn a profession. After collage I got married and when many others were enjoying their young families on weekends and taking vacations I was working full time and continuing my education for a Masters Degree at night and weekends. At times my friends or relatives would tell me how lucky I was to have a good job or to have a nice house or car and I would tell them that luck had nothing to do with it because I felt I earned everything I had.


Well now that I am retired I have done some self-examination and concluded that luck had a lot to do with it.

I AM LUCKY

I am lucky that my mother and father met and married even though they lived in a sparsely populated rural area around Montreal Canada.

I am lucky that they chose to migrate to the United States to improve the standard of living for them and their children even though they left behind many close relatives and friends.

I am lucky they decided to have one more child (me) after already having five during the worst depression in this country’s history.

I am lucky that they taught me to be honest, thrifty, hard working and to plan for the future.

I am lucky they baptized and raised me in the Catholic faith and sent me to a Catholic grade school at their own expense.

I am lucky there was an affordable college close by that I could afford without accumulating significant debt or over burdening my parents.

I am lucky my circle of friends in college were mostly married military veterans on the GI bill who were hard working and dedicated to getting a good education and taught me how to study.

I am lucky I met Nancy in a crowded drive-in restaurant and she later agreed to marry me even though we had so little time to date between my college and working evenings and weekends.

I am lucky we had 3 healthy offspring and Nancy raised them very well with little help from me because I was absent so much between work, school and extensive business travel.

I am lucky I lived and worked in a relatively free economy that rewarded hard work.

I am lucky that none of our family has ever had serious life threatening illnesses.

I am lucky that all three of our children avoided the drugs, alcohol and other social corruptions of many of their peers and grew up sharing our values and are now married and each has two children of their own.

I am lucky our 6 grandchildren are healthy, happy and well adjusted.

I am lucky we have never been adversely affected by a natural disaster even though we live in an active earthquake region.

Notice that NONE of the above was a result of anything I did or decisions I made myself so as it turns out I AM LUCKY after all.