FRANK TALK: Do you feel lucky?

There's such a thing as being luckily unlucky, as sure as there is such a thing as being unluckily lucky.

Let's illustrate the latter concept first.

We've all heard the story - an ordinary person wins a multi-million-dollar lottery prize.

That's lucky.

But then said person goes on an insane spending binge and develops all sorts of cash-crazy-related bad habits and within a relatively short time finds him or herself financially and morally bankrupt.

That person was unluckily lucky. In the end, what seemed to be great good fortune was completely the opposite.

This is a phenomenon that deserves a great deal more study, and I - with some trepidation and concern for my own well being, naturally - would volunteer to serve as a study model should some well-bankrolled think tank wish to invest, say, $10 million to $20 million in the interest of furthering our knowledge of the human condition.

I would, of course, pledge to spend it recklessly.

But I digress.

Let's return to the first concept, that there's such a thing as being luckily unlucky.

Normally, having your front passenger-side tire blow out while you're proceeding down the highway at 50 mph would be considered "unlucky."

But there are some factors that must be considered in this particular case, which is hypothetical.

Say, this particular highway was single-lane, lined with strip malls and driveways easily accessed by the motorist immediately after hearing the shredded tire flap-flap-flapping away in an extremely disconcerting manner.

That's actually lucky because this particular motorist - I'm informed - could very easily have taken another route that fateful day on a much larger, three-lane highway with no accessible driveways to turn into when the tire blew.

The tire was going to go one way or the other.

So, the fact that the tire blew on the single-lane highway rather than the three-lane version was a bit of lucky unluck.

The subsequent fact that the blown-out tire seemed to be welded onto the vehicle by rust and resisted all attempts by the motorist - I'm told - to remove it so the spare tire could be attached shouldn't alter the initial finding that this was a case of being luckily unlucky.

Nor should the facts that the motorist - I've been apprised - didn't have a cell phone and the strip mall was deserted because it was after-hours on a weekend change our opinion.

The seven-mile walk that ensued gave the motorist - so I was advised - much-needed exercise as well as a chance to ponder philosophical matters.

Wareham Courier Editor Frank Mulligan can be reached at fmulligan@wickedlocal.com.