Success & Luck
“Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck—and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky”
For most of my life I’ve prescribed to the idea that I was “self made”—to an extent, I still relate to the concept. I know that no one is truly self made, there are always outside influences, circumstances, and the general rules of randomness to deal with. I also know that I’ve had privilege in my life—as a straight white male its hard to claim otherwise. I come from minimal opportunity, but opportunity none the less (I still might pat myself on the back for putting in the work to capitalize on that opportunity—my ego won’t let me do otherwise).
I can’t recall when I first heard this quote from Michael Lewis, but I know that when it entered my ears I was stopped in my tracks and took note (2012 Princeton University Commencement Speech). It hits me on many levels but at my core it’s the obligation. Self made or not, if you are someone that falls in the “have” as opposed to the “have-nots” there is an obligation. “You owe a debt to the unlucky” because on some level the cherries lined up for you and not for someone else. Why not elbow the machine a few times and see if you can’t let that luck rub off on someone else?
