Murphy’s first law dictates that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The other line will always move faster, it will rain as soon as you wash your car, and if you try to please everybody, no one will like you. Examples of this law are endless, much like its application and the role it plays in our everyday lives.
This law of universal truths pertaining to hope, excellence, and in some cases — fatalism can be dated back to the early 1940s when it was first dubbed “Murphy’s Law” by Dr. John Paul Stapp. The law was named after Captain Edward A. Murphy Jr., an American aerospace engineer, who was involved in a test program of rocket-powered sleds in 1949. The original observation was made by Murphy during a stress test when a mistake was made, and the results were ruined. He declared, “If there’s more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way.” The phrase quickly spread among the engineers and technicians working on the project and eventually became a widely recognized principle. Over time, Murphy’s Law has come to be associated with the idea that things will always go wrong in the worst possible way.
Murphy’s law isn’t controlled by a magical force within the universe that may or may not be; there isn’t even any concrete science behind the law. More often than not, scientists dismiss it entirely as being nothing more than the product of selective memory in individuals when things don’t go according to plan. It is we, as humans, who give meaning to these words. At first glance, Murphy’s law is nothing more than a string of words that offer comfort to the pessimists of the world, but it’s possible to derive a deeper meaning through further analysis. Shifting away from the negative connotation attached to it, we can use this idiom as a guide to approaching the highs and lows of life.
The law can capture our attention simply due to its versatility. Whenever something goes wrong, it’s easy to blame the universe because, according to Murphy’s law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong; then was there even any point in trying? And that, right there, lies the beauty of this law. It all comes down to perception and individualistic interpretation. While many will take the law at face value and use it as a means to justify poor decision-making, which is fatalism at its core, others are able to do more. Murphy’s law can help us better prepare for the future and guide us in decision-making. It forces us to open our eyes to the possibility that something will likely go wrong and allows us the opportunity to take preemptive steps in damage control. It forces us to always be prepared with a plan b and is ultimately a means to achieving excellence.