Who Needs luck?

By Rosa Martinez

HAVANA TIMES – Most of my eldest daughter’s friends are going through one of the most important stages of their life, right now.

They are having to take the three admission exams that are needed in Cuba to get into university. They already got back their test scores, including the one they dreaded the most, in Math.

Now, they are impatiently waiting to be admitted and a place to study for their preferred degree. They will spend the next 4 or 5 years studying, and then exercise this profession the rest of their lives.

My daughter didn’t do these exams. She decided to do for vocational Health diploma instead, which she didn’t need to do an admission test for.

But two of her best friends have chosen to study Medicine, and a third friend is applying for Telecommunications Engineering. So, we’ve been following the admission exams in one way or another and whether students pass or not.

The day they had to go and take the Math exam, we ran into Alexandra.

Alejandra is one of the so-called whizz kids. She’s a very smart young woman, but she is also quite arrogant. So much so that while most of her classmates admire her intelligence, very few of them actually talk to her.

My daughter is always telling me horrible stories about the girl. I always encouraged her not to talk about any of her classmates like that. I would tell her that you have to like people with all of their flaws and virtues. I’d tell her that we didn’t know why gifted Alexandra is how she is. And that maybe we will understand her a bit better one day.

Maybe it was fate or whatever guiding force there is in our lives, but we ran into her the day of the Math exam. We were heading to the store and she was in a rush to get to her important exam.

Good luck with the three subjects. May God shine a light so you have a clear mind when answering each question…

I was going to say something else when she cut me off quite brusquely. She dryly answered: good luck is for losers. And who needs God when you’ve studied so much?

I was really left quite astonished…

I wanted to say many things to Alejandra, but I didn’t. First of all, because she was in a rush and so were we. And secondly, because I’m not sure it would have been worth it.

There was only one thing left for me to do, and so I did: I prayed for her and a lot… She would soon find out whether luck was just an excuse for losers. It’s best not to say anything about a divine power.

Read more posts by Rosa Martinez here.