Thank goodness for good luck

Lucky could easily have been my middle name. My whole life, fortune seems to have been favouring me.

Maybe that’s why I’m such a sucker for a lucky draw, or a raffle. In fact, I love any kind of competition where the luck of the draw determines a winner.

My first lucky draw was getting my parents. I could easily have found myself child number 14 in a poor rural household in some remote village in the Amazon.

Instead, I got lucky. So lucky that I never once had to walk to school – ever. I was driven in a car every day, until I got my own motorcycle. No stories about walking barefoot for miles in the winter.

My first job had me working in an office with a gaggle of girls. One supplemented her income by raffling off a delicious chocolate cake every Friday.

I won so many of them that eventually she’d put the cake on my desk even before the winning ticket was drawn.

And on my annual church pilgrimage to participate in the fete, I seldom leave empty-handed. Some of my lucky dibs on these days include winning a lamb in the target shooting contest and being blessed with a giant bear for hitting all five ducks stranded on a pole with a kettie.

Trust me, both these competitions require a lot more luck than skill to win.

Although I love the idea of a chance to win something, I am mortified at a current competition offered by a local radio station, which is offering the cosmetic surgery of your choice as the big prize.

Entrants are requesting surgeries like boob jobs, having their ears pinned back, weight loss surgery and even a sex change.

I suppose a lot of research was done before this competition was launched and I suppose the best prize in any competition is to offer what people really desire.

The fact that so many people reckon they require cosmetic surgery does freak me out a bit.

All I can say is I’d much rather get a chocolate cake on Friday than face a scalpel.

I suppose I’m just lucky that I don’t feel the need to enter this competition.

Danie Toerien

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