APAD: A Charmed Life

Meaning:

   A life of guaranteed good fortune or invulnerability, by virtue of a charm or

   spell.

 

Background:

   From Shakespeare's Macbeth, 1605.

 

     MACBETH

     Thou losest labour:

     As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air        

     With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed:

     Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;      

     I bear a charmed life, which must not yield,

     To one of woman born.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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My friend Bill was born in the early 70s which, when looking back,

was the right time. Waves of unspeakable evil and horrors had just run their

course and a fresh tide came in, swept him up, and carried him forward and

outward, to the capital city and then to the sea. By the time he landed in North

America, the Chinese were no longer excluded. He and his fellow students were

welcomed to universities and churches, educated, and worked high-paying jobs

afterwards. Despite of all his faults and flaws, no real harm had befallen him.

The closest call was pre-diabetes when he turned 40, which was not only soonest

mended but awakened him to health and well-being.

 

What had he done to derserve this charmed life? Nothing, he said.