A Canadian in Sweden

Luck

When someone in North America says "Geez, you're lucky" the implicit meaning seems to be that you have been the benefactor of a fortunate but random circumstance. As we spend our time sitting on this little blue marble on the western spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, sometimes things fall into place and you happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Not so in Sweden. When someone says your are lucky, they seem to mean that luck is a skill or a personal quality, like having nice teeth or a good combover. In other words, the implied meaning is that luck is a personal trait. Some people have it, some people don't.

Now, don't get me wrong here. I have not interviewed a bunch of Swedes about their views on this. It just occurred to me today when someone told me I was lucky. It is just that the way they said it left me feeling like somehow they thought I had something to do with it. As if I had skilfully managed my luckiness.

I seem to recall that the Vikings thought that luck was even more important a quality in a leader than intelligence. Given the Viking job description (sail uncharted waters and attack heavily defended forts while wearing a loincloth) I could see how you would want to delude yourself that maybe the Gods were smiling on the the dude who was calling the shots.

Now, I will admit that I have had a streak of unusual good fortune the past few years. I seem to end up in the right place at the right time for good things to happen. But is it a skill? Hmmm. Perhaps that isn't so outlandish as it sounds. Being lucky is probably heavily related to having decent people skills. When people like you, good things happen. And nobody would deny that people skills are - well, a skill. Even stuff that seems random can be traced back to knowing someone who got you in touch with someone...

My car is a great example. When I arrived here, one of my friends (and a regular reader), Nevin told me he thought he had heard that some folks he knew from out west were in Umeå. That is how I met the Ellises. The Ellises were on sabbatical here in Umeå and they left in October. When they left, they wanted to keep their car because they were coming back this summer. So they offered me a sweetheart deal to "rent" it over the winter. Lucky? Maybe. If I didn't get along so well with Nev, and then get along so well with the Ellises in turn though, it never would have happened.

I will concede, however, that it is a bit weird that I win roulette every time I walk into a casino. I have no interest in gambling (see previous post) but whenever I get dragged into a casino, I play roulette exactly one time. I bet on red. it is about as close to 50/50 as you can get in a casino, and I haven't lost since my streak began in Monaco in 2002. I don't know how many times I have won, but I have never, ever walked out of a casino with less money than I started with. And that thing with meeting Terese Pirak in the restaurant in Jokkmokk... yeah, that is a bit hard to explain too.

OK, maybe I am lucky. Oh well, it is better than being unlucky.

No snarky comments about my classic waxing, thank you very much.

posted by Jeff @ 8:25 AM