What luck has got to do with it

Last night, I watched a film called Match Point. For those who haven't seen it, it's about a middle-class tennis player (Jonathan Rhys Meyer) made good by marrying rich. He then shot his lover (Scarlett Johansson) and got away with it. His opening narration was: some people just get lucky.

To me, luck had always been a matter of perspective. But this lucky, or rather unlucky, predicament seems to have caught up with my old pals, whom I met up with earlier today.

C was involved in a gas accident last year. She unknowingly lit up a cigarette in the kitchen, where the gas stove had been left on. As a result, she received burns on her hands, legs and part of her face. She needed skin graft, eight operations, two months in bed, and physiotherapy to re-learn things normal, abled people take for granted everyday, like walking and feeding herself.

T is in deep financial trouble. Her dad died, leaving her straddled with a pile of hospital bills. Shortly after that, her mum suffered a stroke and needed treatment. Her brother moved out of the house, leaving her to clean up the mess all by herself. A few days ago, she was served a lawyer's letter for getting into an accident last year, while driving an uninsured car belonging to her late dad, of which she had no idea about. That's on top of her thryoid medication, tuition loan and monthly bills. She makes okay money as a marketing manager, and because of that, she doesn't qualify for any social assistance scheme. She's contemplating the possibility of having herself declared as a bankrupt.

They are two of the sweetest girls I've ever known in my life, and seeing them suffer hell on earth just seems all so unfair. On the other hand, some girls, whose dishonourable character I can vouch for, seem to be having all the fun.

Do some people have more luck than others?

I'm loathed to just even think about it.