Are you superstitious?

Simple answer: Not really, I guess?

Complicated answer: Superstition stems from the irrational idea that something will happen (usually a bad thing) if you do (or don’t do) something specific, but with no explanation of HOW, like breaking a mirror or a black cat crossing your path. So I often don’t put stock in those kinds of things.

As far as I can tell, more often than not it’s all just coincidence, and the only reason this information sticks around is because of the human need for rationalization of the unknown and unexplainable, usually through storytelling.

All that being said, I’m sure there are SOME superstitions that hold some merit to them, but not for any unknown or mystical reason. Like walking under a ladder, which is just plain stupid and unsafe. Some parents probably saw their children walking under ladders while people were working on them and made the connection that if they told said children a story about bad luck curses then they wouldn’t do it anymore. (I say it this way because I am fairly certain that most parents these days don’t actually know the origin of the ladder superstition in the first place.)

As for why I sound hesitant in my simple answer above, it’s probably because there’s potential for things to be omens rather than superstitions. Not like Biblical omens, but just signs of something that actually can be explained. If you look in a mirror and it cracks it’s probably not a sign of bad luck (just odd timing on your part) but rather just a sign or symptom of the way the world around it is, like something resonating with it happened to catch the slightest imperfection in the glass and making it crack. Little things like that which most people are oblivious to because of how subtle they can be.

Does that make sense to you? I hope I made it make sense.