The Fortune Cookie

The Fortune Cookie

          I had lunch the other day at a local Chinese restaurant. It had been a great morning – it was a pretty day and my errands and chores had come off without a hitch. The food from the buffet was remarkably fresh and good tasting. I hadn’t run into anyone I didn’t want to see or who didn’t want to see me. Morning was indeed spectacular.

         Then came the fortune cookie. The words on the little strip of paper read, “your luck is about to change.”

         I didn’t stop to consider that the change might be from good to better. I guess, like most folks, I’m pessimistic about any change.

         I don’t put much stock in Chinese fortune cookie predictions. Perhaps if the cookies were delicious their foretellings would carry more weight.

         I was surprised to learn that Fortune Cookies are pretty much an American invention and actually are of Japanese origin. The psychic confection is customarily served as a finishing touch to Chinese meals in many countries of the world but not in China or Japan.

         As to the verity of the predictions on the scripts inside the cookies, only those firmly rooted in ambiguity present a trifling measure of truth. As far as I can tell, the originators did not claim any cosmic influence on the statements. In fact, for decades, only twenty-three fortunes were used by the Japanese originators. Nowadays almost anything can be included in the text of the fortune. Even lottery ticket numbers.

         Although nothing disastrous happened, that sorry tasting little cookie spoiled the rest of my day, not because of its own power but by causing me to forget, albeit briefly, God’s wonderful daily blessings. I think I shall never open another. –CP