LUCK

There’re a lot of chance encounters in life. To come from where I come from and go to college when I was bound for the shipyards, to graduate from the University of Chicago, that’s a lot of serendipity and chance.

—Brent Staples

Unquestionably, luck plays a part in our lives. It’s bogus, however, to believe that others get all the good luck and we get all the bad.

Author and New York Times editorial board member Brent Staples was indeed bound for the shipyards when a chance encounter with a college professor gifted him with the phone number for a college admissions director. Staples could have tossed the number, convinced of his own meager luck, but, no, he made the phone call that was a first step in changing the direction of his life.

Let’s teach our children to be alert when “luck” comes their way.

Call to Action:  On this day, I will take five minutes to talk to my child about luck—that half of it is recognizing it when it appears.