Luck

These days, I have been thinking a lot about luck.

I am currently reading a Korean novel called, “The Second Coming Of Gluttony” and it really inspired me to write this post.

In the novel, the main character, Seol Jihu, basically gets a second chance at life. He gets recruited and is given the Gold Mark in which he is given a lot of cheats.

The MC basically starts off with more money/items than the rest, and has an ability to see colours. Red signifies danger, orange – do not approach, yellow – take caution, green – safe (there are still more colours to be unlocked, I’m only 100+ chapters in).

However, as I keep reading, I really feel like it’s so unfair. Yes, he works and trains hard, but he had all these abilities/things that others didn’t. In my opinion, he already had a huge unfair advantage against everyone else.

Next, I thought about how all the MCs in dramas are usually rich guys who are already hot, those who already have power, status, and money. They don’t even have to do shit and all the women just flock to them. It is so unfair.

I can’t help but feel, “You’re just born lucky.”

Then, I thought about myself. How much of my accomplishments were based on my abilities alone? Am I just born lucky too?

I want to take credit and say I got to where I am with my hard work and persistence. But there are actually a lot of things that played a factor. For instance:

I mainly grew up in Canada, so English is the language that I studied in school. English happens to be an international language, which is used worldwide. This made it easier for my translations to get popular. Imagine if I had translated into Russian or something; most likely, only Russians would be able to understand.

Secondly, I grew up in the era where internet started to boom. If I were born twenty years earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to blog or work online and etc. It’s like being born at the right time and the right place.

Thirdly, because I grew up in a first world country, I was fortunate to never have to experience famine, water contamination, war, and etc. Although there are lots of people struggling and living on low income in Canada, we are able to get a lot more help here than in many third world countries.

So in a way, aren’t I the same? To those suffering on the other side of the world, aren’t I just born lucky?

This reminded me of a quote from the Korean movie, Parasite. The mother said something like, “If I were rich, I would be nice too.”

It just really made me reflect on my luck and privileges.

I was born in a period where women no longer have to rely on men financially.

I have the right to free speech.

I have electricity, running water, and flushing toilets.

I speak a language that is globally used.

I can work online and be anywhere as long as I can connect to the internet.

I never have to worry about survival.

I can literally order food on an app and have it delivered to my door.

I have options.

Although I’m not rich, I already started off with so much more than most.

If you think about it, even the richest people from a couple decades ago wouldn’t be able to buy the convenience we have today.

They may be rich, but imagine life without internet!! (I would definitely read a lot more books, but I’d be pretty sad without dramas + social media + getting information at the tip of my fingers)

So even though life is tough and I can be really down sometimes, this reflection makes me feel like my life is actually so much better than what I initially thought.

Hence, I do feel lucky.

How about you?