Murphy’s Law – A Preponderance of Evidence

Whenever I go through difficulties, I am prone to analyzing my situation to death. I begin to search for philosophical answers. It is a coping mechanism. (Okay, it is probably an obsession.) Forgive me, please. Religion has been of no help to me, and platitudes don’t hold much comfort.

I am tempted to come to the conclusion that Murphy’s Law reigns supreme – “Anything that can go wrong, will, and at the most inopportune time”.

Good luck, Bad luck.

Is luck random or are there patterns? One of the ways of looking at this question would be to look at the odds. What are the odds of taking a die and repeatedly rolling a six? Possible indeed, but not so probable…

I submit the following as an example:

This past May, on a Friday, one of my cats came down with an upper respiratory infection. Okay, no real problem, we got her to the vet (on Monday) and she got antibiotics. No real significance, yet.

Then in July, on a Friday evening at dinner, she gagged on her food, cried out and ran for her hidey hole. She seemed to be having a recurrence of her upper respiratory infection as well; she was also sneezing and wheezing. Over that weekend, I diluted her food and fed her by hand. She seemed to have difficulty eating solid food. Took her to the vet on the following Monday. The vet diagnosed another upper respiratory infection and gum disease – more antibiotics and an appointment for oral surgery (for a teeth cleaning). Time passed, she got her surgery which consisted of teeth cleaning and the removal of two back teeth. Seems that those two teeth were fractured. Except for the fact that for the 2nd time, she got sick on a Friday; there was nothing to trip my “outside the odds” radar.

Late September, she was recovering and doing well. She was finally allowed outside for awhile. Some days went by, things seemed to be getting back to normal. Then, on a Friday, she was gone all day. She arrived home late that night with what looked like wounds from a dog bite.

Three times in a row, she got sick or injured on a Friday (when the vet hospital is closed). What are the odds? What are the odds on an experienced cat getting injured? (Obviously, it is possible, but experience is supposed to minimize the probability.) And what are the odds of bad luck happing again so soon?

The following Monday, I called the vet. I needed a refill on her antibiotics anyway (per vet’s instructions). The last several times I have called the vet and was promised someone would call me back; the call came late in the day. That day, I thought I would get my shower over with early so I would be ready for the call. They called me back while I was in the shower! Minor issue, but significant in that: When I scheduled my activities to conform to a previously established pattern (vet calling back late in the day), the pattern changed.

The vet said I could pick up the meds that day. I told them I would be there around 4:30 pm. Rarely does my husband come home late from work. The only times he is home later than 4:00 pm is when he has a previously scheduled errand to run. Today, he was 20 minutes late because he unexpectedly gave a coworker a ride home. No problem being late to pick up the meds – they were still open, but again, the one day I counted on my husband’s schedule, he was unexpectedly late.

This seems to be the story of my life – I am leaning towards being a “Murphyst”. In “Murphysm”, you cannot appease the gods (Murphy). Rather, you must try to “work around him” and you won’t always be successful. But, it will keep you busy.