Setting: A cozy Berlin apartment, late evening. Rain taps gently on the window. Two friends, Lukas (the superstitious one) and Mira (the rational thinker), are lounging on a couch after dinner. A single candle flickers on the table.
Lukas: (wide-eyed) Whoa, whoa, whoa! Mira! What are you doing?
Mira: (startled) What? I was just lighting a cigarette from the candle. Chill.
Lukas: (snatches the cigarette away) You can’t do that! That’s terrible luck. For sailors! And—okay, just don’t do it, please.
Mira: (laughs) Wait, wait, I’ve heard this one before. Something about killing sailors if you light your cigarette from a candle, right?
Lukas: Yes! It’s a real thing. It goes way back. Every time someone lights a cigarette from a candle, a sailor loses his job… or worse. Do you want that on your conscience?
Mira: (grinning) That’s quite the butterfly effect, Lukas. So lighting a cigarette from a candle in Berlin somehow dooms poor Klaus on the North Sea?
Lukas: (dead serious) Exactly! My Oma used to say, “Drei Zigaretten an einem Streich bringen den Tod.” Three smokes from one light is death, and a candle? Even worse.
Mira: Okay, but let’s unpack this a little. Do you really believe a sailor’s fate depends on how I light my cigarette?
Lukas: It’s not just about sailors. It’s tradition. It’s… bad energy. Haven’t you ever felt like you’ve messed with fate when you break these little rules?
Mira: Honestly? No. I mean, I’ve walked under ladders, opened umbrellas indoors, stepped on every crack in the sidewalk—and I’m still here. No plagues. No fired sailors. Just mild back pain from my office chair.
Lukas: (mock horrified) That’s exactly what a cursed person would say. You wouldn’t know it’s bad luck. It sneaks up on you—like taxes.
Mira: (laughs) Alright, fair. But think about this logically. This candle superstition came from when matches were expensive and sailors sold them in ports. If people started using free candles instead of buying matches, the sailors lost income. So the story was invented to protect their business.
Lukas: (blinks) Wait… seriously?
Mira: Yeah! No mysticism—just early labor economics. It’s kind of brilliant, actually.
Lukas: Huh. I… never thought about it like that. That sounds almost reasonable.
Mira: Look, I get it. Superstitions give us a sense of control in a chaotic world. But science gives us tools to understand the chaos, not just fear it. Wouldn’t you rather rely on actual evidence than spooky sailor stories?
Lukas: (sips tea) Maybe. But let me ask you this: if you knew it freaked me out, why light your cigarette from the candle anyway?
Mira: (smiling) Touche. Fair point. I didn’t realize it ran that deep for you. Next time, I’ll use a lighter.
Lukas: Thank you. And in return, maybe I’ll stop throwing salt over my shoulder every time I spill it.
Mira: That’s progress! One irrational fear at a time.
Lukas: Just don’t ask me to stop knocking on wood. That’s where I draw the line.
Mira: (grinning) Deal. As long as you don’t mind me explaining the psychology of confirmation bias afterward.
[End Scene]
Science Vs Superstition 
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