justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Superstitious?

Do you have a concern when Friday the 13^th rolls around? Do you change your routine “just in case” you might let loose a dose of some bad luck when that day rolls around?

Are you concerned when a black cat crosses your path? Do you make sure you don’t walk under a ladder? Do you toss some salt over your shoulder if you happen to spill some?

I’ve always felt that Friday the 13^th held good luck for me. Perhaps it’s because my mother was born on Friday the 13^th. It could also be because 1913 was the year she emigrated from England to Canada with her family, after having their journey put off a year. They had booked passage on the Titanic, which, as we all know, hit an iceberg and sank in 1912. Talk about good luck, eh?

One year, I decided to test the good or bad “luck-ness” of Friday the 13^th. I bought 13 one-dollar lottery tickets, from a vendor on 13^th street, at exactly 1313 hours. That’s 13 minutes after 1:00 PM for you not used to naval time. And how did I do you may ask? Did I win an amount that might total 13 in some way? Nope. But I did win $5 from two of my tickets and was just a little consoled that I’d won something.

I believe a lot of our superstitions originate from what we now call “urban legends”, or maybe even religious writings. There is in fact, a definition for the fear of Friday the 13^th: Paraskevidekatriaphobics describes people who have a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13^th.

There’s also a wealth of data on the subject of superstitions, with enough of them to satisfy more peoples’ needs for omens of some type.

I’d like to end by wishing you good luck, but I’ll just leave that subject up to you and end with the insipid comment, “Have a good day!”