Anyone who discounts this fickle siren’s influence on human affairs has not been paying attention.

We all know the story of that barrel of odds and ends store-clerk Abe Lincoln bought for 50 cents from those travelers.

What if, instead of used law bucks, that barrel had contained a bowling ball? The Great Emancipator could have easily ended up being an icon on the pro bowlers tour.

What if Poppy Bush had not survived that plane crash during WWII? He would not have sired progeny who destroyed Silverado Savings & Loan and another one who broke the world.

I have a cousin who labored as a lowly beat reporter for 20 years, albeit, in increasingly larger papers. He was competent, but real success eluded him.

But after years of unrecognized toil, Lady Luck decided to give him a tumble. The large newspaper where he was working belonged to a wealthy family who had owned the paper for generations.

The scion of the family didn’t bother with the day-to-day operations of the paper, but would drop in randomly to check on things.

The paper’s editor had a not-to-secret drinking problem. After sneaking a few at work, the editor, rather than walk down the hall to the rest room, would step out on the third-floor city room’s fire escape and take a leak into the alley below.

On that fateful day that Cuz’s ship finally came in, the paper’s owner dropped in unannounced, parking his Mercedes at the rear of the building in his reserved spot.

About the time the owner was strolling down the alley, headed for the side entrance, the soused editor stepped out on the fire escape and began urinating, splattering the owner who was directly beneath.

The boss looked up to see who had committed this outrage on his superior self. Furious, he stormed into the city room and fired the editor on the spot.

He turned to my cousin who had witnessed the event, but continued typing at his humble desk.

“Hey, bud,” the owner said, “Do you think you can run this newspaper?”

Cuz said, “Sho’ ‘do!”

Of course, this event is not listed in Cuz’s official record of achievement. Nobody wants to give Lady Luck her due. It is considered unmanly.

Folsom’s bona fides as a progressive populist date back beyond his cradle to his father. Big Jim Folsom was the one white politician in mid-20th century Alabama who could get elected to statewide office without using the heinous toxin of racism as a centerpiece of his campaigns.

Unfortunately for Alabama, Big Jim chose to get on live television the night before the gubernatorial primary in 1962 drunk. Up till then, he was the odds-on favorite against Wallace and DeGraffenreid. Doubtless, Big Jim would have handled desegregation far differently than Wallace did, perhaps helping avoid one of the nastier chapters of race relations in Alabama history.