English Version | Editor's Letter: The Lucky Issue

“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck." - Dalai Lama XIV

© An Le

From a macrocosmic perspective, we are all incredibly lucky simply to exist. We descend from an unbroken line of winners going back millions of generations, and those winners were, in each generation, the luckiest of all the lucky out of millions. Therefore, however unlucky we may feel at any given time, our presence on the planet attests to the role that luck has played in each of us's past. Already from a micro perspective, it is also undeniable that we are the result of the union of the egg with the sperm that managed to reach the goal faster, the only winner among hundreds of millions.

© Élio Nogueira

Somehow we all believe in luck, even the most skeptical of us. Let those who have never engaged in superstitious behavior throw the first stone, behaviors such as avoiding walking underneath ladders, dodging a black cat or simply knocking on wood to ward off bad luck. Whether there really is some kind of metaphysical explanation behind luck, or whether it's an entirely psychological phenomenon, there's a universal truth – we all like to feel lucky. Luck goes hand in hand with confidence and with everything that also depends on us – the focus on what we want most, (hard) work, the courage to dare and take risks… Phrases like “Fortune favors the bold” or “Luck takes a lot of work”, have a real foundation.

© Ricardo Abrahao

Luck smiles at us in the most unimaginable ways, sometimes even masquerading as bad luck, like a kind of riddle whose meaning we only manage to understand later, as this ancient Chinese fable illustrates so well:

One day, a farmer's son let the only horse they had escape. Upon learning of the story, the neighbors went to the master's house, very concerned. “What a disgrace, to be without the animal that helped him in the field. Such bad luck!" Without batting an eye, the farmer replied, “Perhaps.”

The next day, the horse returned, along with seven other horses that had followed it, and the farmer became the richest man in the village. So all the inhabitants made a point of congratulating him. “What luck, it's a miracle!” they said. “Perhaps,” replied the farmer.

The next day, his son broke his leg while trying to break one of the wild horses. Meanwhile, winter was approaching and the farmer could not take care of the fields alone. “It's terrible what happened to you! Such bad luck,” said the neighbors. “Perhaps,” replied the farmer again.

A few days later, the army arrived in the village to recruit healthy young men to fight in an unwinnable war, and the farmer's son was not taken because of his broken leg. “How lucky, our children went to war and yours didn't!”, said the neighbors. Again, the farmer replied, “Perhaps”.

Everything that happens, no matter how bad it is or seems, can end up being positive. As the old saying goes, a blessing in disguise. And even in the worst moments, when we feel abandoned by luck, we still exist, we and that invisible resilience, inherent to any human being, capable of changing and overcoming bad luck. Faith in a better tomorrow is probably the most powerful of talismans.

This issue you have in your hands is an amulet, believe it or not... Because as Tennesse Williams said, “Luck is believing you are lucky.”

Good luck.

Translated from the original on The Good Luck Issue, published march 2023.Full stories and credits on the print issue.