Hi guys! Well, today is Friday the 13th. Now were all going to fail our vocab quizzes because of the bad luck, right?
Seriously however, while I realize the fact that I realize that both Friday and the 13th of the month are both human inventions, and wouldn't exist with out us making the artificially dividing what we perceive as time into portions like days, hours, weeks, etc., and furthermore there is no proof that a day can be "unlucky", I still can't help but believe the superstition to an extent. There are other superstitions I still semi-believe, even though it makes no sense too. I guess my question is, why? Is it because I have heard these superstitions my whole life, and they have become habitual? Is it because I'm going along with tradition? Or am I just not able to totally break myself from the idea of the symbol equaling the thing symbolized.
So, my question to the rest of you; do you still believe in any superstitions or have any thoughts on the matter?
-Melissa C.
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I think it's hard to say that there's one distinctive reason why we believe in superstition and that all three of the reasons you offered contribute to the answer. Our habits and traditions definitely define many of our actions, and it's hard to change a belief someone has if it has been told to them for their entire life. Furthermore, our inability to break the belief that symbol equals thing symbolized inhibits us from accepting reason and abandoning our superstitions.
ReplyDeleteAs for your final question, I don't consider myself a very superstitious person. However, I do have certain set of habits which I do for no real logical reason. For instance, I always eat the same breakfast before big tests and exams. (Raisin Bran, coffee, and glass of orange juice)
-Bryce Cody
I think a part of it has to do with the superstitions coming true. I know on Friday the 13th, I had a pretty bad day. My day probably had nothing to do with the date, but I still thought of that as the reason. It didn't matter that on all the other Friday the 13ths, I had good days, because the bad one was the one I remembered. Likewise, Bryce probably would do well on his test regardless, but because he once ate that breakfast and did well, he begins to believe it helped.
ReplyDelete~Becca
I think a lot of people like to believe in chance and luck. While we may know thing doesn't equal thing symbolized, we ignore that fact. For me, I like how luck and chance leave a little uncertainty to life, no matter how illogical or statistically impossible something is. I like knowing that I can't control some parts of my life and it makes me happy making myself believe I'm not a control freak. I wish at 11:11 because of that what-if. I remember all the times that my wishes did come true (forgetting all the ones that don't, similar to what Becca said). Another example is horoscopes. I personally don't believe in horoscopes; I think that they are all written so abstractly, with vague words that apply to everyone, that people can manipulate the horoscopes to fit their own lives. But sometimes I still read horoscopes just to see -- what if. It basically boils down to the fact that I don't like breaking the tradition and habit of believing in the chance of something good.
ReplyDeleteMaybe gambling is in my future. I know that getting blackjack is statistically unlikely, but what if I get lucky that one time I play?
-- tori
And that is why people have gambling addictions. They think so much of the "what if..." of the "it could happen..." that they forget it isn't. I agree with Tori. People like to optimistically believe that something could happen, even if it's not likely.
ReplyDeleteI also think people like explanations and many superstitions were invented to explain why someone undeservedly got lucky or unlucky, esp. when someone else didn't. Megan and Lexi both studied for the test, but Megan passed and Lexi didn't. Why? That doesn't make sense. It must be becasue Lexi saw a black cat, since it couldn't have been her own fault. People like to know what is going to happen, or why something happened, especially if it can be for some reason out of their control.
~Becca
Your second paragraph reminded me of how Hayakawa implied that humans often tend to avoid blaming themselves for things that most likely are their own fault. We blame other unrelated things, such as the weather, our health, the economy. We can fool ourselves into believing a web of untruths. Next time we go to take the test, we will be focused on making excuses for our performance and we won't really get to the heart of the problem, meaning we won't study and we won't prepare ourselves. We'll just pass the fault onto random things so we successfully avoid the issue totally.
ReplyDelete-- tori