Friday, July 15, 2005

Murphy's law and Casey's law

Murphy's law named after Major Edward A. Murphy Jr. is a popular adage in the western culture. It states as "anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Casey's law named after Albert V. Casey a businessman states, "If something should go right, it should." Casey's law scoffs at pessimism and encourages us to see the bright side of things in any and every circumstance.

So who is right? Which of these contradictory laws should we believe?
There are no right answers. At one end people sometimes fall prey to pessimism and at the other end they give in to unrealistic optimism. When situations are under control we tend to be unrealistically optimistic. During stressful situations, when most things seem to go wrong and the best of our efforts seem to be futile, pessimism seems to prevail.

What is important is during both types of situations, we draw on our intelligence, focus, creativity and courage which are what we need the most to persevere. Murphy's law is capable
of moderating over-confidence while Casey's law can shield against self-doubt.

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