Setting: A cozy kitchen in Stuttgart. It’s Saturday afternoon. Anna and Lukas, two close friends, are enjoying coffee and apple strudel. A ceramic plate lies broken on the floor.
Anna: (gasps) Oh no! The plate! That was part of my grandmother’s set!
Lukas: Yikes. That’s unfortunate. Let me grab the broom.
Anna: (smiling despite herself) You know what they say—“Scherben bringen Glück.” Shards bring luck!
Lukas: (raising an eyebrow while sweeping) Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot here. But why would a broken plate magically summon good fortune?
Anna: Not just any shards! Just regular dishes or glasses. Mirrors are the bad ones, obviously. Everyone knows that.
Lukas: That’s the part that puzzles me. So if I drop a wine glass, it’s lucky. But if I break a mirror—bam!—seven years of misery?
Anna: Exactly! That’s why I never hang mirrors near doors. Or windows. Or… basically anywhere they could fall.
Lukas: Anna, you realize that makes your hallway look like a vampire lives here, right?
Anna: Hey! I like the cozy-no-mirror look. Besides, there’s history behind it. People have believed this for centuries. Traditions matter!
Lukas: Sure, but traditions aren’t always based on facts. Science doesn’t really support the idea that broken porcelain changes your life trajectory.
Anna: You say that, but remember last year? I dropped that serving bowl right before my job interview—and boom! I got the job at the museum.
Lukas: Or maybe… you got the job because you’re a qualified art historian and you didn’t panic during the interview?
Anna: But the timing was too perfect. And what about my cousin Eva? She broke a glass at her engagement party—and now she’s happily married with twins!
Lukas: That’s adorable, but statistically speaking, people break things all the time. And many of them don’t get jobs or twins afterward. Correlation isn’t causation.
Anna: You sound like one of those science podcasts you keep forcing on me.
Lukas: Because I am one of those science podcasts in human form. Welcome to “Rational Hour with Lukas.” Episode 57: “Why Your Plates Don’t Control Your Destiny.”
Anna: (laughing) Okay, Professor Buzzkill. What do you say when something goes wrong—just cry into a spreadsheet?
Lukas: No, I try to understand what happened and learn from it. Break a plate? Maybe I need a sturdier dish rack, not a superstition.
Anna: That’s so… boring. Superstitions give life a bit of magic. Like—if you believe good things will come, maybe you’re just more open to noticing them.
Lukas: Ah! That I can get behind. That’s not superstition, that’s optimism. Self-fulfilling prophecy. Your belief helps you act more positively.
Anna: So maybe “shards bring luck” is really just… emotional damage control? Turn a mess into a metaphor?
Lukas: Exactly! And if that helps you smile instead of cry over a broken plate, I say go for it. Just don’t skip the glue and logic.
Anna: Deal. I’ll believe in lucky shards, and you’ll keep your broom and science. Together, we’re unstoppable.
Lukas: Like a yin-yang of superstition and reason.
Anna: Or like a plate—broken, but still holding good memories.
Lukas: That’s actually kind of poetic.
Anna: Told you I was deep. Now help me clean up this luck before the cat steps in it.
[End Scene]
Science Vs Superstition 
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