Luck

Dumb luck. Turns out most cancers are probably the result of random mutations. Bad luck; nothing more. Sure, things like smoking don’t help, but, if we’re being honest, isn’t it always among the first questions we ask when we hear someone has cancer? Talk about adding insult to injury to blame the victims of plain dumb luck. Blind luck. When you stop to think about it, just about everything of any importance in life comes down to luck. Born American; born white; born affluent. #WhitePrivilege is real. The lasting advantages in life from a first-rate education, paid in full? Largely luck. How much credit to take? Intelligence enough to make the most of all the opportunities; hopefully with humility enough to recognize the relative role of luck over any intrinsic merit. Think about it: if medical schools only take 10% of qualified applicants, then for every MD graduated there are nine other folks out there who could have done it too; maybe better than those who did. Why me? Why not them? Sheer dumb, blind luck; nothing more.
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs