a charmed life

From an early age Reza knew that she was leading a charmed life, and an unshakable belief in her indestructibility has caused her to take risks that would scare off most people.

“Time after time bad things would happen to me and I would survive them, intact, even sailing through them, like water off a duck’s back,” says Reza. “Sure, I didn’t like bad things happening to me -- it’s a price we all pay for living and interacting with each other -- but when someone dies or suffers permanent debilitating harm and you don’t, and this happens around you time and time again, you get to realize that you’re living a sort of charmed life.”

“I suppose this is how people get to believe in God -- a man in the sky rewarding them for being good and punishing them for being bad -- but being good or bad has nothing to do with luck.”

“I grew up in a totally dysfunctional family -- violence, alcoholism, poverty, divorce -- you name it. I experienced every horror that a child can experience and yet I survived and succeeded in life a lot better than friends whose childhoods were blissful.”

“That doesn’t mean, of course, that blissful childhoods make for unlucky lives any more than difficult childhoods make for lucky lives,” adds Reza. “It has nothing to do with environment; it’s how you perceive yourself in relation to the universe, or how the universe perceives you.”

“Think of the concentration camp Jews who survived the Nazi ordeal,” explains Reza. “Sure, they were unlucky to experience such an ordeal, but what differentiated them from those who perished in the camps was pure luck. It had to be.”

“I don’t believe they were more positive, more upbeat, or better people than those who perished,” explains Reza. “They were simply incredibly lucky, living a charmed life like I am.”

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