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There have been many lucky moments in my life. For instance, that one time I went to a music festival during college with a few of my friends, and didn’t get arrested.
As we stood in line waiting to get past security, my friend was right in front of me being patted down by the guard. My friend had hidden a single ecstasy tablet in a box of cigarettes, which fell out as the guard searched him. Shit. Immediately, in a very unfortunate panicked move, he turned around and tried to make a run for it. The guards tackled him to the ground and cuffed him.
As we watched our friend disappear in the back of the police car, I felt a mix of emotions: shocked at what just happened, worried about him spending the night in jail, frustrated that he chose such a lame spot to hide his pill, and an uneasiness around whether or not I should still go to the festival given what just happened. And yet, at the same time, I felt wholly and utterly relieved. There was a clear, “That could have been me” moment.
If you’re wondering, I had put my tablets in between my butt cheeks, as I figured a deep cavity search was unlikely given this sort of event. This was my typical hiding spot and never let me down. But, anyway, back to the main point: I felt really lucky there.
There have been many such times in my life. Like the time I was caught shoplifting but the manager let me off the hook because she was feeling lazy. Another time when I was riding my bike and narrowly avoided being smashed by a very large truck. Not all of my stories involve evading crime or death, but also accumulating money. Like that time I decided to buy bitcoin a few years ago because my weirdly smart friend had suggested it.
These moments, when I look back at them, give me the sense that I’ve really lucked out. They make me smile and think, “How are you not dead or in jail yet? Lucky son of a gun!” It kind of makes life feel like a movie. Unpredictable. Unbelievable. Slightly out-of-body, looking at scenes unfold as if I were someone else. The spoiler, which isn’t really a spoiler since you know it and I know it even if we try to deny it, is that we all die in the end.
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