Friggatriskaidekaphobia (Paraskevidekatriaphobia) And Other Foolishness

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In case you’re wondering, the above words are competing terms for the fear of Friday the thirteenth. (Google “Friday the thirteenth;” it’s interesting.) Personally, I’ve never had anything bad happen to me on any Friday the 13th that I remember. I HAVE heard of OTHER folks who’ve had ill luck on that date. Most of them got up that morning EXPECTING something bad to happen, though, while I get up on that date expecting it to be just as boring as every other day, and it always is. I’m sure we’ve all heard of the expression “self-fulfilling prophecy.” If we’re on edge about the date, we’re apt to get clumsy, act be-addled, be careless and make some bad decisions.

Over the years, I’ve walked under ladders, spilled salt, and had black cats dive across the road in front of me. Common sense must prevail in some situations, of course. I never walk under a ladder that has a man atop it with a pipe-wrench or a bucket of paint (or a hammer, crowbar, etc.). Spilled salt is only a danger if you leave it lie and slide in it later. As for cats running across the road, anecdotal evidence suggests that it’s a whole lot more dangerous for the cats than it is for the drivers. I’ve even broken a few mirrors in my time, but I’ve never noticed any bad luck coming in seven year multiples.

My wife and I have both had some relatives who are very superstitious. That may have come from early contact with Catholicism, with its unhealthy blend of Christian and pagan beliefs and traditions. Another influence may have been simple ignorance—not having enough exposure to active thinkers who might have reasoned away most silly fears. Personally, I feel that one strong, but subconscious, reason for superstition is the convenience of not having to take responsibility for our own stupid decisions. It’s so much nicer to blame our cracked elbow on “bad luck” from breaking a mirror than admit that we shouldn’t have taken up rollerblading without buying safety equipment. It was also, no doubt, easier on the ego to blame some black cat on the trail than for a person to admit that their own carelessness with a kerosene lantern was responsible for the woodshed burning down. I once knew a guy who was a “believer” after he had a tractor-trailer mounted rotary oilrig go over on a Friday the 13th. Nothing would convince him that he might have been mistaken about the stability of the soil the truck was sitting on, or that someone might have gotten in a hurry and botched a set-up procedure. From then on, he was a nervous wreck on any 13th of the month that fell on a Friday.

I got to thinking on this subject the other day when we went through the drive-in to get a soft drink for ourselves, plus a cheeseburger and bottled water for the dog. The bill came to $6.66 and my wife said, “Uh-oh, that doesn’t sound good!” I told her that as long as they didn’t write it on our foreheads, or our hands, I wasn’t going to worry about it.

I used to know a very nice Christian lady who wouldn’t buy anything that came to that amount. She’d either put something back or add something to the sale. Isn’t that sort of a lack of faith, though? “…stronger is He that is in you, than he that is in the world,” (1 John 4:4) the Good Book tells us. Should we then waste our time worrying about the total of a sale, the breaking of a piece of glass, or the travel direction of the neighborhood cats? I don’t think so! I hope you all join me and have a wonderful day, knowing that for most of us, we don’t have to go back to work for a couple days.

“This is the day the Lord hath made; rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). That’s the spiritual version of TGIF. © 2011 (Except for the quotes)
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