Pennies from Heaven

I found a penny today. It was heads up, lying at the base of an escalator. It was shiny and gleaming. It was calling to me. I bent down to pick it up, and the folds of my long skirt almost got caught in the moving stairs in the process… But I risked it. For a penny. Yep, I’m a genius. (That was sarcasm… I know it doesn’t always come across in print.)

The penny was not attractive because of its monetary value. It had a value that I placed on it. Mostly, the value had to do with the fact that I’m magnetically drawn to shiny objects (and it is a lovely, bright, 2007 penny). But, I must admit, it was at least a little because of the element of luck.

Find a penny, pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck.

I don't even really believe that. I did when I was a kid. Picking up pennies now is more out of habit than anything else.

I don’t really believe in attaching luck to objects. If luck exists, it has existed far longer than pennies have. How could something that humans have created suddenly become lucky? It just doesn’t make sense. Luck is older than wishbones and horseshoes. It’s older than black cats, ladders, and 8-balls. It’s like the Force. It just is. (Although I suppose that even in Star Wars luck exists… Leia did kiss Luke on the cheek and say it was “for luck” before he propelled them from one platform to another mid-chase sequence.) And some of the things good or bad luck is assigned to are so bizarre. Shooting stars? Four-leaf clovers? The numbers 7 & 13? And honestly, how in the world did a rabbit’s foot become associated with good luck? It obviously wasn’t lucky enough for the rabbit.

There is a weird cultural divide in the world when it comes to luck. In the USA, we attribute our successes to good work and our failures to bad luck. In Asia, they say that success is a result of good fortune, and failure only occurs if you didn’t work hard enough. I feel like using luck as a form of reasoning is like cheating. You’re obviously not acknowledging the other factors at play. And in the USA, it’s an excuse.

I generally only mention luck as a method of deflecting compliments. When I take a good picture, it’s because I shot it at a lucky angle, or I got lucky with the lighting. When my hair looks good, it’s pure luck. When my numbers were good at my job, I told my coworkers that I had gotten lucky with the projects I’d been handling. When I do well at a sport, it is only luck and will surely never happen again.

I think it’s funny that luck is personified as a woman. How did Lady Luck get invented? She even had a counterpart in Roman mythology: the goddess Fortuna. Why is it a she? Perhaps it’s because of how seductive the possibility of luck can be. It’s such a simple solution to a variety of problems. All you need to get through this is a little bit of luck. The only reason that failed was luck. Good luck. Bad luck. Dumb luck.

I’m not one for superstition. I don’t believe in things like magic, ghosts, curses, and luck. But I do believe in miracles, angels, blessings, and God… So I guess I shouldn’t bash them too much.

There are a great many superstitions attached to the theatre. A famous one is saying the name "Macbeth” while in a performance space, which supposedly brings horrible luck. For some reason, people take it really seriously. I’ve heard of people being kicked out of a theatre for it, and having to do ridiculous things (such as recite a line from Hamlet, turn around counter-clockwise three times, spit, knock on the door and ask to be allowed back in) to make up for it. But I believe there are logical explanations for the bad things that happened in the past because of it.

Theatres that were about to close down used to perform Macbeth frequently. It’s a huge name play with few set requirements and the possibility to do pyrotechnics and sword-fighting. In other words, you can get an audience without having to spend a fortune. And there is also a high level of risk. Many theatres burned to the ground during performances (mind you, they probably weren’t up to code anyway, and also had shoddy fireworks going off mid-show). Many actors have been hurt doing it (thanks to ill-prepared stage combat). And now, there’s a stigma attached to the name.

Honestly, I’ve never worked on a show in which there weren’t horrible things that went wrong. I’ve been injured in most of the productions I’ve been in. Large set pieces have broken (including an enormous styrofoam cross in an opera I worked on… and I maintain that it was NOT my fault). Actors have fallen into the pit. Light cues have gotten erased on opening night. It happens regardless of whether someone says the M-word… But as soon as someone says it, suddenly there’s an explanation for the rotten things that have happened. There is something (and someone) to blame.

I resort to the common device of calling it “The Scottish Play”, so that whoever believes in this superstition will not be offended or go all batty on me. I, personally, am not a believer. I think it’s a powerful play, but not to that extent. Shakespeare, great as he was, could not control luck.

I think four-leaf clovers are only considered lucky because they’re hard to find. And they’re only hard to find because people pick them whenever they find them, and the genetic anomaly can therefore not be reproduced. It’s just a matter of logic.

Walking under ladders isn’t bad luck, but it is stupid. That’s just dangerous, especially if the ladder is just leaning against a wall. People leave things on top of ladders (despite the warning labels that state that you should not do this), and those objects could fall on your head. Or someone might be ignoring the other warning label that says what step you should not climb atop, lose their balance, and crush you. If that ever happens, it’s not because you’re unlucky. It’s because you’re a moron for walking under a ladder, and the other person was a moron for not heeding the warning. You both screwed up.

The fellow I’m dating says that whenever he hears an ambulance or a fire truck siren, his first thought is, “somebody screwed up.” Maybe there was a fire because someone left the iron on. Maybe someone was running around with scissors and now has a nasty puncture wound. He says even if someone had a heart attack, that’s from years of unhealthy living. So in any case, he believes that someone must have screwed up in order for this emergency vehicle to be racing to the scene.

I have a different instinct. Whenever I hear a siren, I pray. I pray that everyone involved is safe. I pray that the police officers catch the bad guy. I pray that if there was a misunderstanding, the person gets off without any problems. I pray that the fire goes out. I pray that the victim survives. I don’t know if it does any good, but it certainly can’t hurt. And I have a feeling that prayer does more than a lucky penny could.

So I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe somewhat in karma. Actually, I’m misusing that word, as I’ve been told that karma refers to how what you do in this life will change what happens to you in the next life. When I say karma I mean, “What goes around comes around.” I honestly think that what you put out into the world comes back to you.

Whenever I have pennies on me, I will often stop to put them on the ground, face up. I don’t assign luck to them, but I know that other people do. I feel like it’s a little touch of happiness that I’m sending out into the cosmos. And I know that somehow, I’ll get it back.

Then again, who knows? My life tends to keep to a sort of balance. There was an episode of Seinfeld in which Jerry realized that life had a way of “evening out” for him. Whenever something bad happened, something good happened of equal weight, and vice versa. I like to think that my life is like that. Whenever something bad happens, it’s easier to take if you think that something good is right around the corner.

I also believe that everything happens for a reason. It’s just not always easy to see what the reason is until long after something happens. If I had gotten one role I wanted, I would’ve missed out completely on auditioning for a different show that turned out to be far more beneficial. If my partner hadn’t dropped out of my Shakespeare class, I wouldn’t have been able to go to the Bangles concert (and I wouldn’t have gotten a fabulous Equity actor as a replacement scene partner).

When my dad was younger, he planned to go on a road trip with three of his friends. His mother wouldn’t let him go. While on the road, his friends got into a horrible accident in which an 18-wheeler pinned their car against a lamppost. They all died. And my dad survived because his mother prevented him from going.

A coworker of mine argues adamantly against this idea that everything happens for a reason. He’ll say things like, “how did the Holocaust fit into God’s plan? What was the reason for that?” I don’t have an answer for that. I don’t know why unspeakable tragedies occur. I just know that if I don’t have my faith, then I don’t have hope. And without hope, what is life?

I never fully understood the Greek myth of Pandora. Her curiosity makes her open a box and release all evils onto the world on accident (much like Eve with the apple… it’s interesting how much Genesis aligns with different creation myths from around the world). She tries to close the box, but only one thing is left inside it: hope. Here’s what I don’t understand… Why didn’t she release hope out into the world as well? Wouldn’t that be a good thing? I like the idea of hope having wings and being able to fly out of the box, up into the sky, and all over the planet.

I think the idea is that evil is all around, and that you have to keep hope with you in order to handle it all. That’s the best I’ve been able to figure it. I’m still rather unsatisfied with that answer, but the Ancient Greeks had some far stranger inconsistencies in their myths than that, so I guess I should let it go.

I rather like the image of a box full of hope, actually. I’d like to give one to the world as a present. Who would turn that down? It would easily be the best gift ever. Well, except for maybe the Felix Felicis (“liquid luck”) that Harry Potter wins in Half-Blood Prince. That might be even better. (Wow, I'm a dork.)

I'm keeping my penny next to my computer. I hope it will inspire me to create my own luck, but I have faith that I will be fine without it.

May your life be filled with hope and faith… and maybe a little bit of luck.

~A~