Bogus Sayings

When I was young I would hear the older kids and even some adults quote these bizarre sayings, and I would think they were true. Step on a crack and break your mother’s back. Break a mirror and it’s seven years bad luck. Don’t walk under a ladder or it will bring bad luck. Then of course there is the saying, lightning never strikes the same place twice.

I’m sure we’ve all heard these and so many more, but how many of them do you still believe in? Do you still go out of your way not to walk under a ladder? If you do it’s more than likely you’re trying to avoid getting hit on the head by a falling tool rather than avoiding some impending bad luck. When out at a restaurant, how many people have you observed knocking over a salt shaker then picking up a pinch of salt and tossing it over their left shoulder but never their right. As we all know, the left shoulder is where the devil sits, and your guardian angel perches on the right. True, I have no way of knowing whether the string of bad luck your suffering through has been caused by a broken mirror or simple stupidity. That one I’ll leave up to you.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have also been sucked in by one of these sayings. Against my better judgement, I always believed that lightning never struck in the same place twice. If you think about it logically, when a spot has the correct positive or negative energy built up, why wouldn’t lightning strike it more than once? I can answer that question with a resounding yes it would since I’ve been struck several times. True they were glancing strikes but strikes none the less.

The first time I got zapped was when I was five. My cousin and I were sitting on a porch swing watching a storm roiling up the lake that my aunt and uncle’s house was located on. Thunder boomed, rain pummeled the ground, and the lightning sparked across the sky. It was an impressive sight, especially for a five-year-old. But little did I know the show was only starting.

A literal bolt from the blue seared through the night sky and raced down the chains that supported the wooden swing. Both my cousin and I sat motionless as electricity sparked around us lighting up the front yard. My hair frizzed, but we were untouched by the encounter. Our parents quickly brought us inside.

My second close encounter with lightning was five years later. My brother and I shared a bedroom that was having some wiring replaced. Once again there was an intense thunderstorm late one summer evening. Some exposed wires poked out of the wall above my bed that had no power going through them. Eventually they were going to be for wall lighting. Similar to my last encounter with lightning, there was a bright flash lighting up the room and especially the space just over my bed. The flash was followed by the loudest clap of thunder I have ever heard. It was a challenge to go back to sleep after that.

My final encounter with old sparky happened around thirty-five years ago. My parents had a patio bordered by a wrought iron fence. I was standing next to the fence looking at the storm clouds floating across the darkening sky. I was thinking it would be a good time to head inside when there was an all too familiar crackling sound followed by a bright flash of light.

Lightning struck the railing and arced to my watch. My arm went numb for about ten minutes before returning to normal. My watch was dead. The only reason I decided to share this story was in case anyone tells you lightning never strikes twice you can tell them how bogus that saying is.