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by Charles Carreon
A child of fortune is one who
casts his or her fate to the wind, thus affirming that this universe is
a good place to be, and that odds are, something will turn out right.
Our children of fortune have shown how to find individual freedom and
the good fortune of all humanity in one package. The secret to being a
successful child of fortune, rather than a shipwrecked piece of flotsam
on a stormy, indifferent sea, is in knowing the patterns and powers of
fortune.
Everyone can be a
child of fortune, these travelers through time seem to tell us. Thomas
Paine is the quintessential child of fortune, for he threw his lot in
with all humanity, casting everything to the winds on behalf of freedom
itself. Iggy Pop managed to break the surly bonds of existence, bursting
into song that defies all the strictures of society. Joan of Arc held
her peers to a vision of reality that gave the lie to ignoble hypocrisy.
Joey Ramone bore testament to the purity of love for all living beings.
Each one found a way to hold their standard high, to reject the appeal
of second position, to take the mountain top of individual
responsibility and unfurl there the banner of a true child of fortune.
How can one be a
child of fortune? One Fortuna is a Roman goddess whose name derives from
Vortumna, "she who makes the year turn about." "She was the goddess of
Fate in all its unknown qualities. Her symbols were the wheel, the
sphere, the ship's rudder and prow, the cornucopia. She ruled oracles,
fate, chance; protectress of women married only once. *** The countless
representations of Fortuna show her chief attributes to be the wheel,
the sphere, a ship's rudder and prow, and a cornucopia. The goddess is
sometimes seated, sometimes standing. Occasionally she has wings."
To gain the favor
of Fortuna was precisely good fortune. To fail to gain her favor was ill
fortune. How could one gain the favor of the goddess? We presume to tell
you here that the way to engage Fortuna's favor is through confidence.
Dare to hazard yourself upon the seas of all existence, and you will end
richer by a thousand-fold.
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