In Greek mythology, when nothing in life made sense, from the positive to the negative events, the ancient Greeks often attributed these chance events with Tyche, the Greek goddess of chance and fate. Tyche was thought to preside over unexplainable earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Throughout the Hellenistic period, many cities started to worship their own versions of Tyche. Even Christians did in the Roman Empire. If Tyche were a God I believed in, she would be the Goddess I worshipped the most.

Unexplainable and unpredictable circumstances that Tyche presides over is a part of life. Recently, I have been thinking a lot more about the role of luck, not only in my life, but the lives of many. Luck seems like a domineering factor in life. If you didn't get into that near life-ending car accident, it could have been luck. Getting that job or getting into that dream school over other qualified candidates isn't a sign of merit, but luck. Finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life with is more a stroke of luck than your own efforts and merit.

I am not discounting the work you have put into your craft or your personal life, but it is incredibly dangerous to think that only merit dictates our world when the world is rife with inequality when intelligent, resourceful, and kind-hearted young people don't have the chance to leave their impoverished upcomings and environments. I see competent and skilled kids fall not be able to make a better future for themselves because they don't see those opportunities, and I see this every day of my life.

I stopped believing in a world of meritocracy a long time ago, and I especially stopped believing in a world of merit now. I used to think the world was linear, that I could fix one thing in my life and everything else would change. When I was in high school, I thought for a while that if I fixed one thing about my running form or picked the perfect shoe to train in, I would become an elite runner.

Those things that I thought mattered so much never actually did, and if they did, they factored in inconsequential and minor ways. My best friends are friends I didn't happen to make by intention, but rather by accident or without even intentionally thinking about it. The best lessons I've had as a teacher are ones I never would have expected to go well.

Life is not linear. There is no law of linearity. We can't fix one thing about ourselves and magically have everything else fall into place. I have fallen into the trap of thinking like this much more than once, but the truth is that there are so many forces and factors pushing and pulling in our lives.

I believe in God and Jesus Christ, but my beliefs are that God is sovereign over the luck and chance in our lives. Every decision we make is a way of rolling the dice to see if it works out or it doesn't. Sometimes we have good odds, and sometimes we don't. But the worst thing we can do is idle and stall, to not make a decision and not move forward because we're scared of where our paths might take us.

Too many of us see the fact that luck rules over our lives as constraining, but I personally don't. If luck is the biggest factor in your success, then why not take that risk? Why not ask out that person you like? If luck is the biggest factor in your success, then why take a failure personally, if you knew it was all luck at the end of the day? And when you do "make it", when you do become successful and gain influence, the role of luck allows you to realize that you're not anyone special and that you need to stay humble.

I am sick and tired of a world where we feel like we have to deserve and earn everything. That doesn't mean a world of entitlement to everything, but that only merit and hard work can get us places, when that's not the truth. The world is random, and the world is dictated by luck.

The adage that it's better to be lucky than good is truer than I would have ever imagined. The fact that we even survive from day to day is a stroke of luck to be widely thankful for. These are the things we must never forget. To survive and be successful, luck is the biggest factor.