Oprah Winfrey's Argumentative Essay: Luck

Words: 478
Pages: 2

Luck is a surprisingly divisive topic. While most people credit luck in a casual way, for instance if they win with a lottery ticket, there are those that feel strongly about whether or not it exists. Those who strongly believe may surround themselves with superstitious traditions, such as rabbits' feet and four-leaf clovers. Those who don't believe tend to knock the idea that anything happens by chance and that all you need to do to succeed in life is work hard. Oprah Winfrey placed herself in the camp of those who do not believe in luck when she stated; “Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”

I believe that Oprah was trying to say that anything that could be attributed to luck is actually caused by being prepared and taking
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I believe that sometimes, people just get lucky. For example, someone who walks the same way to work every day may eventually come across a twenty-dollar bill on the sidewalk. They have done nothing to prepare for finding the money, nor did they actively seek out an opportunity. The only thing that led to them finding the money instead of someone else on the same sidewalk was good luck.

This also works in reverse. Someone who drives the same route to work every day may eventually get into an accident when someone else runs a red light. Or perhaps they are rear-ended by someone who is not paying attention to the road. As they had nothing to do with causing the accident, it can't be because they were ill-prepared or missed an opportunity to avoid the accident. The accident can simply be attributed to bad luck.

In the end, l feel like whether or not one believes in luck, they still need to put effort into meeting their goals. It is true that sometimes things happen that are beyond our control, but that's no excuse for not ever taking initiative. Not to mention, if we make the effort to prepare ourselves, when bad luck does strike, it doesn't seem to hit quite as hard as it does when we aren't expecting