SUPERSTITION

ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS?  That is a question I ask my Dad when I was growing up.  "Nope" was his answer.  "Nope, I am not superstitious".  And he stuck to that statement all his life. At least, if he ever changed his mind on that, I never heard it.  But one day, when I was in my teens, we were going to the woods to get a load of firewood. He ask (told) me to go to the wood pile and get the ax and meet him at the pickup, where he would be loading the saw and gas. As I left the woodpile, I could see that Dad had not yet left the house, so I, for whatever reason, walked into the house through the back door, and on into the front room where Dad was.  I don't recall exactly how the conversation went from there but is was something like this. Dad,  Why did you bring the ax in the house.  Me.  Well, you weren't at the pickup yet, so I came in.  Dad--(Visibly upset) Take the ax out of the house, (and as I headed for the front door) No, do not take it through the front door.  Take it back out the back door.  When I ask why he said "It is bad luck to bring an ax in the house, but if you do, you do not take it through the house, you take it back out the same door you brought it in.  I remember grinning and saying " I thought you were not superstitious."  He replied  "I am not, but don't bring an ax in the house."  That's his story and he stuck to it.
So now I ask again.  Are you superstitious?  I will say   I am not.  I have worked with people who were and they stuck to it.  I have walked under a ladder, broken a mirror ( not on purpose) and had black cats run, or walk, in front of me.  The number 13 is just a number between 12 and 14 and Friday the 13th is just the day between Thursday the 12th and Saturday the 14th.  Just another day.  I once worked with a woman who, when I bent down to pick up a penny from the ground, said loudly, "do not pick up that penny". I stood up and ask Why, is it yours.  No she replied, it is tails up.  So What.  Cause she said, if you pick up a penny that is tails up, that is bad luck.  I bent back down, pickd up the penny, put it in my pocket and said,  Well, I guess it is your bad luck, cause I have the penny.   I have picked up literally hundreds of pennies over the decades, many of them tails up.  If I have had bad luck because of it, I don't know what it was.  Or any of the other things I mentioned.  I don't hesitate to step on a crack in a sidewalk and my mothers back has not suffered because of it as far as I know.
I know that there are many people who are superstitious and some are very much so, to the point that they have a hard time living life because of the things they feel can effect their lives.
Many follow their horoscopes and live according to them.  I don't, although I do read the one that is in my month from time to time.  I haven't noticed that my life has been effected one way or another by what someone said was in the stars.  I know who is in charge of the stars, and it is not the horror scope writers. 
The problem with walking under a ladder is you could knock it down on you, or if you break a mirror, you could cut yourself.  Cats, black or otherwise, do as they please and don't cause bad luck.  And the number 13.  Well, that's just a bridge to get from 12 to 14. 
So, no I, like my Dad, am not superstitious, but don't bring an ax in the house.
AND THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK