As fate would have it, a cat wandered into my backyard a few weeks ago, and when my mom called, she came running right up. No collar, no identification of any kind, but she was friendly and skinny. My family has a cat already, so we set up a bowl for her and posted her picture to my town's Facebook group to see if the cat belonged to anyone. No one said anything, so now my family had two options, either we take her in as the new pet or put her up for adoption in an animal shelter.
She is cute and was perfectly friendly with us, but there was one big reason why putting her up for adoption would be good: she was completely black.
The yellow eyes didn't help, and while she looked and acted like a cat out of a children's book or Studio Ghibli movie, it is a well known fact that black cats are the least adopted as opposed to other fur colors, even when there is a mix. Knowing that and understanding that the chance of her being adopted would be about zero during the fall, my family took her in (name pending), but it made me wonder why anyone would still ever have a problem with black cats just out of simple superstition.
It is an interesting point to make. Americans have conquered the darkness and underlying evil of nature with Manifest Destiny, the nation was founded under the religious wills of Puritan and Protestant thought, and the overall popularity of New Atheism and democratization of the internet leave little mysteries and more people skeptical of what they're told from any old wise tale.
I had my own conundrums as a kid with "step on a crack, break your mom's back", which obviously never happened, but it was frequently on my mind whenever it happened. Due to all the work still being done at the Tully Dining Commons, there was an open ladder set up in front of the main staircase, and everyone nearby, including myself, walked around it.
I'm sure that we are all aware that these superstitions are not true and there is not any power that will show how wrong we are, yet it's still on everyone's mind when they come up.
I don't think that people do it because there will be real consequences, but I also don't think that it is just "to be on the safe side." However, I think that some vague fear still exists and makes people act according to these sayings. Whether it has something to do with faith in politics after Watergate or still coming to terms with a self-inflicted annihilation after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I do not know how or when the sort of vagueness came to be.
I'm no expert here; I'm just someone wondering about it all. It could be a cultural expectation to follow these superstitions, only unique to the United States. Perhaps no matter what anyone believes in, all Americans still have an awareness of principles that in some sort of way can keep you safe.
Not breaking mirrors, walking under ladders or crossing paths with black cats might be some sort of comfort in a world that was dangerous before and is paranoid now.