Luck

The older I become the more I think about life and others. Thanks to my experiences I’ve come to the conclusion that some things are just down to luck and destiny, and one of those things is the situation you are born to. No one comes into this world deserving to have a bad start in life, to lack a loving and steady family, to not have enough to eat or to have a life long disease- those are just situations that are out of our hands when we are born. Yes, you could argue that life is what you make it, but being realistic, someone who is born into a well off, loving and caring family in an economically developed country does in no way have the same opportunities as someone who is born into the complete reverse situation. Life is random, sometimes we are dealt hands that are just unfair.

Due to my job, I had to visit a state prison with some of my co workers and quite honestly, what I saw and felt were complete different processes and emotions than I thought I would before going there. First off, it was quite organised and clean and the inmates were treated as proper human beings. You see, although these men had committed crimes or had been there because of lack of proper judicial processes, they were given the opportunity to learn new traits, skills they never thought they were capable of having or learning. They went to school, learnt how to read, had a library, a sports pavillion, an arts and culture club, among other facilities. Many of them seemed cooperative and willing to re-invent themselves. I know that these are felons and they have hurt many people and have done unspeakable things, HOWEVER, I believe in the power of positive reformation and the opportunities it gives these men to actually turn their lives around once they’re out. If you keep feeding and breeding hate, that’s all you’re bound to get back.

The reason why I connected my theory to this experience is that the vast majority of the inmates were either around my age and even younger. I felt an unexplicable mix of deep sadness and relief. I was sad because I think most of these young men’s lives would be completely different if they had come from a similar background than mine (I am not saying my background or childhood were perfect by any means, but I was rather fortunate to get quality education, love, order and the support of people who believed I was destined to do good). A lot of the times these are things we take for granted, and this is where relief comes in, I remembered I had a home to go back to after that tour, I had a family waiting to have lunch with me, friends asking me how I was doing today, I felt loved and lucky to be this age and being able to help others by doing what I like.

I know that it is easy to just discard bad decisions and behaviour to just luck, so I am going to say that although luck plays an important factor, you always have a choice to do the right thing and to turn your life around, just keep looking for options, don’t just give up. Preventive action is always better than reformative action.

Sending positive vibes your way.

-M.