TikTok’s latest “Lucky Girl Syndrome” trend has caught the world in another moral bubble of treating ourselves and others kindly in order to get “lucky.” By channeling your inner positivity and really looking at yourself in the mirror and saying “I’m lucky,” and “I deserve this”, you will, soon enough, get everything you ever wished for.
“Ở hiền gặp lành” is a phrase I grew up with. It translates to "good things will meet good people”. My mom was an example of this: she gave food to the homeless people on the curb, helped her family back in Vietnam by giving them the money they needed, and understood and empathized with others’ struggles. From the goodness she gave into the world, she was able to receive a good position in life — exactly what she needed. This is the model I grew up with, and it reflected on my purpose in society. For it to be popularized in the media, sometimes known as “good karma” and “manifesting,” everything makes sense. While I take what my mom taught me growing up to heart, I am also a firm believer that everything you do comes back to you.
“Lucky Girl Syndrome,” like the idiom, is an expression to say good things will happen if you just put in the effort to reach your goal, which isn’t necessarily luck. Luck is success or failure that occurred purely by chance, but the “chance” is what our interactions with others produce. My mom giving food to the homeless and empathizing with others’ struggles are only examples of her sincerity, which is expressed in many other contexts — her earning the wages that keep my sister and me living in the world. By putting a goal forth, and reaching for qualities that make you earn good things in the world, telling yourself you are lucky is only the minimum of the “Lucky Girl Syndrome.”
In other words, the goodness you put in the world brings back what you deserve the most.
Editor(s): Chris F., Cydney V., Amelia P.
Photo Credits: Unsplash