LUCK AND CHARACTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 645, 23 April 1929, Page 5

LUCK AND CHARACTER

j Nine people out of every ten prob- | ably believe in ‘luck.** The superI stition, if superstition it be, is found ! in the most practical, liard-headed men I and women, as well as in those of us who are more simple and credulous. The tenth person is sometimes obliged to admit that good fortune does attach itself to some people all through life, just as it neglects others. Nor can it always be shown that this is merely ! due to the operation of the law of I cause and effect. Common sense, discretion, economy, sometimes prove to be as much their own reward as virtue does. It is scarcely possible to live halfway through life without seeing in our own and other people’s lives some hint of destiny, of a plan. Some things, it seems, have to come to us; other things, possibly those we most desire, stay away. In our ignorance of the sources of character and experience jwe cannot dare to dogmatise about this. But the suggestion of a direction in each life becomes more irresistible as time goes on. A complete change of experience, a change that is in kind, is a thing that scarcely j ever happens to anyone. What We Make It . You may say that character decides | this, and often, in part, it does. But ; what character always does decide, and here remains scope for free will ; and self-direction, is not so much our circumstances, our good or bad fortune, as what we make of these. It is all very like a game of cards. Just as there are high-spirited players who I enjoy the very difficulties of playing a bad hand, so there are hardy people in life who find a zest in difficult circumstances. Very easy circumstances often impoverish personality, and though some of us may cry “Give us money and we’ll risk the other poverty!” we have to remember that a dull mind is a serious bar to enjoyment. The lovely character that grows among harsh circumstances is, 1 happily, a fact of life as well as a favourite of fiction. Those of us who cannot rise to heights such as this may remember that there are such heights —and play our hands, good, second-rate, or downright bad, as well as we can.