Comments on: The Lesson of the Great Bavarian Wine Harvest

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:00:32 +0000

@Christine: Congratulations on discovering your family roots. Glad to hear that you are coming to Bavarian Germany for your 50th anniversary and glad that our stories and photos have provided travel inspiration fodder. Sounds like a great plan. Any more questions, please let us know.

By: Christine Lawson

Christine Lawson — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:59:55 +0000

Thank you for sharing this fine article and wonderful photos! I have been gathering the names from my ancestors and have discovered recently that our family is descended from the Johann Michael Rudisill family who came to America from Bavaria. This dates back to the early 1700’s. My husband and I plan to take a 50th anniversary trip to this country in 2014. Your story and photos have opened up a whole new idea for how I want to spend some of my time there.

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 07:46:37 +0000

@Theresa: Â True, there’s an element of random in every bit of success and failure. Â Perhaps I’m a little too wrapped around words, but “fortunate” strikes me as a better balance as it credits the force of fortune while crediting the force of effort.

I’m lucky to have my health and to have been in a position to make some of the choices I’ve made. Â However, for the longest time my family and I didn’t really have the means to travel abroad. Â So I didn’t travel until much later than most (26 years old). Â Having said that, I realize there are countless others who begin with disadvantages so much greater than the ones I’ll ever know. Â And I’m confident in saying that because of my upbringing I was aware of that before I ever traveled abroad.

More broadly, what I was trying to get at in this piece was that professions loaded with apparent romantic allure (winemaking, restaurant business and traveling among them), I believe there’s an even greater tendency to write off more success to the winds of fortune instead of years of hard work and commitment.

Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

@Sarah: That’s a common angle on the fortune vs. working hard debate. I like the added distinction that Theresa’s comment (and my response) brings to the table. A bit gray, but more fair to luck and effort.

By: Sarah Wu

Sarah Wu — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:05:19 +0000

wow that is so fun anyways I hear that sometime but we all work hard to earn whatever we have or done..

By: Theresa

Theresa — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:39:56 +0000

I do think that people often use lucky due to a lack of a better fitting word. But at the same time, I think that we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t credit luck a little. Sure, we’re not lucky in the lottery sense, but we’re lucky in the sense that we were born into circumstances that allow us to pursue opportunities that have outcomes that other people may deem as “lucky” (though, in fact, obtaining that outcome does require a lot of hard work). Unfortunately, a fair number of people aren’t “lucky” enough to even be in the position to be able to access the opportunity. No doubt I work hard for the things I have and have accomplished, but I am also lucky, lucky, lucky.

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:25:35 +0000

@Michael: We have so many stories along the same lines from people we’ve met along our travels. I don’t think people always mean “lucky”. It just happens to be the easiest word at hand.

By: Michael Tyson

Michael Tyson — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:30:04 +0000

Regarding luck, we were talking to a couple we’re going to be house-sitting for the other day. They said people often tell them how lucky they are to have such a beautiful home – an old cottage in Wales they restored themselves. He said he’s fond of replying “Yes, the harder I worked the luckier I got!” That sounds about right.