This particular 'rant' of
mine concerns Luck and Superstition. I don't believe in either one. It doesn't
matter to me what other people think of luck and superstition, as long as they don't push this stuff on
me and expect me to go along with it.
Since this is my own
website, with my own thoughts and feelings and experiences, I've decided to
talk about why "I" personally don't follow the rituals of luck and superstition.
I never wish anyone 'good
luck'.....ever. That may go unnoticed by my friends, as so many people say it
so often. I'm sure that my not saying it probably doesn't really stand
out in their minds. But it's true, I don't say it to anyone.
I also don't answer or participate in chain mail....ever,
NEVER...I delete them as fast as I get them. They do not work. I have had some really good stuff happen to me and some really bad
things happen to
me. But none of it was because of a chain letter.
A lot of people don't realize what's behind chain mail
and other 'superstitions'...they may not even realize that it's superstition.
And, many people don't realize the origin of superstition.
If chain letters and items of good luck were real,
wouldn't all of us be rich? Wouldn't all of us never die? Wouldn't all of us
not get sick? Wouldn't we all experience only 'good' things in our lives?
What if I didn't have a computer.....would that mean
that my life would go differently because I missed all that chain mail?
Superstition originated with people trying to appease
demon spirits. But where did they get these ideas? In order for a demon to be
appeased by something, you'd have to have that knowledge, right? And where
would you get that knowledge? Does it sound reasonable to you that a demon, or
evil spirit, would invent ways for you to ward off their own evil doing? What
would they get out of it? Why would they do that? If anything, I would
imagine the demons, or evil spirit beings, laughing at all the rituals they
see people do in order to ward off bad things.
By way of an example......say that a demon is in the
room with you. They are, indeed, very powerful spirit beings. Now, let's say
you spilled the salt shaker on the table, then you toss some salt over your
shoulder to ward off bad luck. Do you really think that tossing salt,
something that has absolutely no meaning to a spirit being, is going to keep
him from doing anything bad to you? Do you really think that he's sitting there
waiting to pounce on you, merely because you spilled salt....but before he can do
something he thinks, "Oh, no, and I
was really gonna give him some bad luck and do evil things....but then he
threw that salt over his shoulder and now I'm rendered powerless."
Do you think you've just fought
and successfully triumphed over evil by merely tossing salt?
I don't think so.
Clinking glasses before you drink an alcoholic beverage is also a
ritual of superstition. It was believed that if you 'clink' glasses just before drinking alcohol,
the demons would be scared away from
your mouth and then they couldn't enter into your body and make you a mean and
violent drunk.
Yeah, right, like that could really work. Someone needed to tell my dad about
that one....it never worked with him...he was always a mean and violent
drunk...and he clinked glasses until they busted..
Wind Chimes are another practice of superstition. It's
believed that chimes scare the demons away from your door and they can't
enter your home and cause bad things to happen.... Hellllooooo...since when
did a spirit being need to enter your house through your door. And do you
really think that a powerful spirit being is afraid of the tinkling of a wind
chime?
I think not.
I'm just telling you where the idea of wind chimes
came from. I actually like the sound of wind chimes.
And what of the person, or people, who travel on an
airplane with a rabbit's foot in their pocket and the plane still goes down.
Could all of the people on the planes that were involved with the terrorist
activities on September 11th, 2001 been saved by merely carrying rabbit's feet
and other 'good luck' charms with them? If it doesn't work in that situation,
then what makes people think it will work in other situations?
If 'good luck' charms and other items were so
powerful, then why aren't we all Bingo and Lottery winners? Why isn't Las
Vegas bankrupt because of all the winners? How can that many people in
Vegas who are doing all kinds of 'good luck' things, be so 'unlucky'?
I have known
people all my life who believed in superstition and they have done all the
chain letters and their lives aren't any better than mine, and I never
pass them on.
As a matter of fact, their lives seem to have gone worse
for them than it has for me. They are always nervous... worried about skipping
superstitious practices, and things of that nature.
I remember one friend of mine, a while back, who
panicked because she was receiving so many chain letters and she was working
frantically to send them off so she wouldn't have bad things happen to her. I have never known a
single person who has gotten all the things that a chain letter had promised to
them, upon completion....be it good or bad.
Many people don't realize the origin of superstition
and what's behind it. They don't even realize that what they do is directly linked to
being superstitious.
Sure, I could send a few chain mail letters out and
then look at my life very closely and blame all the good stuff on
what the chain letter promises. Or, I can look closely and blame all
the bad stuff on chain mail.
I have never participated in email chain letters.....but about a year
and a half ago, my husband and I went to a local restaurant. This place is
known for how generous the owner is. Out of no-where, the owner picks my
husband out of line and gives us a free dinner. The very next night, we
ordered pizza from Pizza Hut and when Les went to pick it up, the manager came
out and told him that when he was cleaning his desk off he saw a note that he
made to give Les a free small pizza.
Apparently Les had complained about a pizza back in
October 1999 and the manager, and Les, had forgotten about it. They had put it in the computer
to give Les a free small pizza, but by the time the manager saw him and
remembered, Les had
already paid, so, he said that the next one is on the house.
Then, that same
night, Les went to Blockbuster Video to rent a popular movie....it was rented
out, all 114 copies. So, the video store worker said that when it comes back,
we get to rent it free.
And that's not all....the next day, Sunday morning, I
woke up to find out that out of all the thousands of entries,
the cable company I was with for my internet service, voted my site 'Cool Member's Site Of The Week',
and I received 577 visitors to my website on just that day alone.
And, the day after that was a really big day for the
cable company....they launched their brand new look and features, and we had
all been anxiously waiting for that. Plus, I was the first Site Of The Week
for 'the new look'.
However, I had received about a dozen chain letters
the week before and deleted them immediately. How do you explain my red-letter
weekend?
It just happened....and that's all there is to it.
Luck had nothing to do with it.
So, does it seem reasonable to you that one person can
follow superstition and good luck charms and their life doesn't improve, and
another person, like me, can do nothing about superstition or luck and have a
great weekend?
If following tradition and superstition really worked, the whole world would
have caught on by now and no one would die, no one would lose anything, no one
would be sick, no one would be homeless. Even a homeless man could pass a hand
written chain letter to ten of his closest homeless buddies and they would all
have homes and good health....things would start to go their way.
If following superstitions really worked, then
marriages would last forever because, after all, most of everything you see at
a wedding is steeped in superstition rituals. Yet, look at the divorce
rates....I hardly see where the superstitious rituals have worked or saved
marriages or blessed every married couple with children.
Superstition is a religion, even though most people
don't realize that. It's a religion that plays on the fears of people and
proposes that the demons can be appeased by man-made objects and
tradition...and that if you do these meaningless rituals, the demons will
reward you with wonderful luck and things will go your way. Things that are
valuable to mankind, are not valuable to demons, or spirit beings.
What if I followed all the superstitions, did all that
I was supposed to, when I was supposed to, and how I was supposed to......and
sent tons of chain mail to everyone....how much better could I expect my life
to be? I wouldn't have a life....I'd be spending all my time making sure I was
appeasing the right demons, or evil spirit beings, in the right way. I'd
be scared to death that I'd miss something or did something wrong. Believe me,
I know a few people like this and they are neurotic...a nervous wreck.
We can all make something out of nothing. I could
write a friend right now and tell them that I got all that chain mail that one
week, the one I mentioned above, and that I followed everything, and then told her of all
the wonderful things that happened over that one weekend. And you know what
she would do, she would immediately blame my good fortune on the chain mail.
Then what if I told her that I didn't even read the
crap, but that I deleted it as soon as it hit my email in-box?....what would
she say?...after all, ignoring a chain letter is supposed to bring you
unbelievably bad luck, right?
What would she say to me then? I know what she would
say....she would look for every little bad thing or upsetting thing from that
week and try to tell me it was because of the chain mail. She would find a way
to tie that chain letter into my life. Some people want to believe in
something so badly that they will tell themselves anything. I can prove that
chain letters do not affect my life....but they can't prove that it does.
You know, truth be told, my life has gone much, much
better than some of the kids I grew up with that did chain mail all the time...they
were really into it. Why is that? Why weren't they having a better
life?...they did what they were supposed to do...and I didn't....why isn't my
life going to hell in a hand basket?
Back when I was in school, I attempted answering a
chain letter, but I never finished it. Even back then, I never knew of anyone
who got money and riches from participating in chain mail. It didn't make
sense to me and I didn't believe in them.
We are all going to die...'time and unforeseen
occurrence befall us all'.....things do happen...but not because we follow
chain mail or superstition.
Demons, or evil spirit beings, care nothing about
whether or not a black cat runs across your path....they don't care if you
walk under a ladder or open an umbrella in your house....or if a dead body is
taken out of the same door that living people walk through to enter the house.
They don't care, nor are they affected by it, if you follow rituals and carry
charms with you. You cannot alter your life, or add one day to it, by simply
following superstitious rituals.
And what of rice being thrown at wedding?....another
superstition. It is believed that if you throw rice at newlyweds, it will
make them fertile and they will have many children. Then how do you explain so many
'infertile' couples who did get rice thrown at their
wedding?
Is it because of God? Is it because God didn't want
them to have children, so the Superstition didn't work? Well, you have to make
up your mind which one you believe in....God and Superstition have nothing to
do with one another. Superstition is a false religion, even if you are only
doing it for fun or out of habit, it's still a false religious practice and
belief. Personally, I don't want to be associated with a false religious
practice.
There are so many gimmicks on the internet...and I
don't fall for any of it. You know the email that circulates about Microsoft and AOL merging together and that you can get over $200 for every
person you mail that letter to? Well, I saw that one going around several
times. I forward nothing of that nature to anyone one. I know of six people
who fell for that. I didn't pass it on, and they did, every time it came
around, and no one got a cent. All it accomplished was the circulation of
unwanted junk mail.
I just don't understand the people who believe this
stuff.....or why they dump it all on their friends. I know that some folks
just sit at their computer and send forwards to everyone....but I don't do
that. If you get a forward from me, believe me, it's not a chain letter, or a
list in which you're to add your name, or a question form to fill out, or a
hoax. I hate receiving them, and I never send them.
Anyway, just think, if we all practiced superstitious
rituals and they really worked, then the demons wouldn't be bad or evil anymore...they'd be going around setting us up with
'the good life', after all,
we appeased them by writing and sending special letters to other people and
carrying around good luck charms. Does that seem reasonable to you? It sure
doesn't to me. We'd all be living like kings, if we all did this stuff and it really
worked.
What demon is going to start this superstition up
anyway?....and believe me, they'd have to be the ones to start it....we
don't know what they like unless they tell us, right?
Think of it this way....a demon would have to get the
bright idea, "Hey, I want to do good things for people and make things go
their way, but first they have to pass a little test...they have to do this,
or that...whatever, and if they do, I'll make good things happen to
them."
Why would a demon want to do that? He's a demon, for
crying out loud....they aren't 'good spirit beings' anymore....they aren't going
to do that. They have nothing to gain. They don't go around doing good things
for people who do things with man-made things.
Salt and charms and words and special candles, rice,
and clinking glasses mean nothing to a spirit being. If we had that kind of
power over the demons, wouldn't this world be free of sin? All we would have
to do is perform a couple of superstitious rituals and we could do away with
evil altogether and live a peaceful life. If that ever happens to us, believe me, it's
not going to happen through chain mail.
Chain mail is not fun....I don't know of anyone who
enjoys it. They just delete it. I have better things to
do with my time. I would like to think that I'm an intelligent, thinking,
reasonable person. I like to think with my 'brain'.....not go on 'blind luck'
and do a bunch of rituals on the 'off chance' that things might work out, and
then blame the 'good fortune' on the rituals.
I know of many friends who simply delete the chain
mail immediately...and they don't tell their friends to stop sending it....a
few do, though. But
I'm the type that will get my point across. I don't want to just 'delete'
chain mail and forwards of that nature.....I want my friends to know that I
want to be left off of their mailing list when it comes to that stuff. I wrote
a rant on Email and touched
on this subject.
I would also like to think that the wonderful things
that you and I have accomplished in our lives, and the lives of others we've
known, has been the result of our own intelligence and wise
decisions...our own trial and error....the result of hard work and
sacrifice....not because of dumb luck by forwarding chain mail and following
superstitions.
I could die tomorrow, and what I will leave behind is
the fact that in spite of some of the cards that were dealt to me, my life has
been good, rich, and full, not based on whether or not I have kept up with
superstition.
Think of all the people who have ever lived on this
earth, and especially those who have followed superstitions all their
lives...right down to the day they died....why aren't they still alive? Why
didn't they at least die filthy rich and have great health?
How about the Luck-O-The-Irish? What of Leprechauns?
If that were all true, then how do you explain the great potato famine that
wiped out so many
people? I'm sure they all did the 'good luck' thing...and did it the right
way...and it didn't save them. Why is that?
Because there is nothing to the 'good luck' thing. If
any of it were true....things would sure have gone differently, agree?
Every
culture has superstition of some sort. Man created superstition, not the
demons, or evil spirit beings. The demons are behind it in the sense that it is a 'false
religion', but they did not create superstitions as a way of helping man-kind
to better their lives by making them jump through hoops and following little
rituals. Superstition is based on 'appeasing' the demons.....and man invented that ritual.
Okay, so what does it hurt, right? Well,
if you want to carry out superstitious rituals and all of that, be my
guest...have at it....but you have to also ask yourself, how many of your
friends want to participate in it? Personally, I don't want it. And that's my
right ....to not participate in superstitions.
Is your right to do all your superstitious
things encroaching on your friend's right to not have to deal with it? Are you
doing your friend a favor by deluging their in-box with unwanted chain mail
and fruitless petitions? Do you have any idea how many of your friends might
be rolling their eyes every time they are sent one of those chain letters? I
think that it's polite to at least ask them if they want to receive them or
not. Give them a choice.
I don't even bother to read just the
'good parts'...the little poems and stories, etc. I used to, but I got tired
of that. Sure enough, I'd reach that part of the letter that totally insulted
my intelligence and I'd hit the delete button. Plus, in my opinion, it merely
encouraged the people to keep sending them to me. And most of the times, the
stories that accompany the chain mail are bogus anyway. A lot of these
things are hoaxes...and if you want to know which ones are hoaxes, just go to
this site....
Urban
Legends
I am much more afraid of receiving a virus on my computer, than what
might happen to me if I don't participate in chain mail and other
superstitious rituals. This was just 'food for thought' and my opinion. It's
also the opinion of most of my friends....I just wanted to share it with you.
But if you have the time, look it up on the internet and find out more about
where Superstitions come from. It might surprise you. And if nothing else,
it's a really interesting read.
