A Story on Fortune…

Was approached by a fortune-teller in town yesterday, offering me a chance to have a glimpse into my own future for a princely sum of $10.

Unfortunately for him, that amount represented all that I had in my wallet at the time ( ATM machine was a distance away) and I certainly didn’t want to risk any form of gastronomical discomfort by sacrificing my lunch money on services of such speculative nature.

I tried to convey to him, politely (with no mention of my concern for lunch), that I was in no immediate need for his expertise and his time would be better spent on a more receptive audience,  but it apparently did not quite deterred him as he proceeded, without my consent, to give me a “free” reading as a proof of his ability.

In summary, these was what he told me.. about me:

1.  I am born to be a leader. (yeah… I always know I am supposed to be THE boss)

2. I have the potential to achieve great things, but I’m not realising that potential fully yet. (of course, my bank balance is still some zeroes away from Bill Gates)

3. I am a very smart guy (my, was it THAT obvious..?), but I usually do not show that off  for fear of offending people with my intelligence.

After hearing all these ego-boosting compliments about myself (which I have no doubt of their truth anyway..), it was natural and human to want to reciprocate by hearing out his $10 forecast, but  I knew what was to come next…

As expected, after the openers, he dropped the one big, nasty word that all people who have the misfortune of  having their fortune told loathe to hear: 

1. You are a born leader, BUT…..

2. You are full of potential, BUT…

3. You are smart, BUT…. (ouch, shut up!!) 

I am convinced that if there is ever a vote on the most terrible word in the history of mankind, “BUT” would come up on top. Whatever good future you might be enjoying are negated with just this one word after it and all the reasons of WHY you are not enjoying it now, would come after, which usually would be things that are beyond your control…. eg: the alignment of the stars on your birthday, the mood of the deities for that year, or how your nose happen to be at the spot that it is situated et cetra.   

Of course, whenever they presented you with a problem, they would have the solution ready too. The fortune-teller reminded me, in no uncertain terms,  of the many ill effects that the ”BUTs” would have on my destiny, but (the word again) fortunately for me, he was the expert in dealing with them. And since, according to him, our meeting was by some divine intervention (“yuan”) from the above, he would do whatever he could to salvage the rest of my life. 

Just as he was about to launch into his ”solution presentation”, my client came by and we had to move on for our lunch, leaving the disappointed fortune-teller quite possibly without the $10 he needed for his own lunch…

Ain’t much of an expert when it comes their own fortune.