Echo Beach Tide Pools

Manipulating Mathmatical Life
By Keith Alan Johnson
02-19-2000

A couple of years ago I had a string of bad luck. At the same time I had a string of good luck. I had to ask myself, did my bad and good luck cancel each other out? Does that mean I'd had a string of nothing?

I'm convinced that what people call "Good luck" and "Bad luck" happens in relatively proportional amounts and at the same time. The "strings" are fabricated in accordance with a person's mood or temperament. If something adverse happens to me and I expect adversity to happen in numerical amounts, say.. threes, then I am going to be watching for the next adverse event. It won't matter how minor that event may be. The event will fit into the equation "bad things come in threes". Further more the equation will remain open until it's complete.

But what happens if something good happens while the equation is unfulfilled? I am waiting for the next "Bad" thing to happen, so I won't be expecting a "good" thing. The "good" thing won't fit the equation. If it's a "good" thing then I will dismiss it or I won't acknowledge it. Sure enough, when the equation is filled I can say with satisfaction "Bad things come in threes". In the mean time I might have won 200 bucks in the lottery, or found out I'm getting a tax refund. If it's a "good" thing, and I am waiting for a "bad" thing, then that "good" thing is irrelevant. I must prove my equation. Resistance is futile.

So why don't we change the equation? "Good things come in threes." As an example, one day last spring I discovered that my commute to our new home would be pleasant, that we were going to have an incredible view of Mount Rainier, and that I could come through a car accident without getting injured. See? Three good things. It didn't matter that my fourteen-year-old reliable car got totaled. Three great things happened. I could drive home for 34 miles, without a seat back and with my muffler dragging on the pavement, smug with satisfaction that I had proved the equation "good things come in threes".

Okay, fine. That has its problems too. Let"' change the equation again. "Nothing happens in threes." If "nothing" happened this morning then I can anticipate two more "nothings" and I will fulfill my equation. I have nothing for an example. I need two more.

How about we scrap the equation then? I don't need to anticipate anything. I can take things as they come. I can gripe about losing my car in an accident and a few minutes later I can be thrilled by the view our new house has. The view doesn't affect my gripe and the accident doesn't affect my contentment.

I don't need an equation for life. "Life is."

...But that's still an equation, isn't it?

02-19-2000

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