Tempting Fate
Jan 8 2022
I walked around the ladder.
Yes, it felt foolish
but something compelled me to do it,
a man
who prizes rationality
giving in to superstition.
Even though there was snow and ice around it,
a clear path
beneath its sturdy aluminum "V".
So when I slipped and fell
it must have been the broken mirror
that did me in,
explained the rational man
who is brilliant at rationalizing;
and how much worse would it have been
had I'd added to my own bad luck
by ducking under
and tempting fate?
Pascal's wager
is to acknowledge God
no matter how unlikely He exists;
good odds
when nothing's lost
and everyone wins.
So by extension
what harm could there be
in giving a ladder a miss?
The cast comes off
in 4 weeks;
I'm told the wrist will heal.
Could there be anything more human than superstition? Even Vulcans like me find we frequently have to actively resist it.
True story. That ladder was there for over a week, and the whole time it just felt better to give it a pass. Even though the clear path was straight through. (I know what you're thinking. But it was supporting some critical scaffolding, so I was reluctant to move it.)
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