Chain letters, have you ever received them ? Before the PC became a common household item, I had received a few of these through the snail mail. In those, my younger days, I used to fret over them, and there were a couple or three that I actually did follow through, literally repeat writing 7 copies (7 seemed to be the favourite number and still is). But nothing noteworthy happened, neither for the chains I continued ( I didn't get my windfall) nor the ones I 'broke' (my room did not burn down).
A few weeks ago, I received one at work and it stated a list of sins committed by the common man. I was to add 2 more common sins to that list that was already there (it was a very long list), and pass it along to 12 friends and add the email listed below as the 13th address. If I did not follow through, 3 evil events would 'befall me' within the next 3 days and I would only recover from it by not eating meat for 7 days. (the magic number again, and some comic relief !!).
Yes, they seem to have multiplied via the email these days. While it is easier to act on them, I don't follow through on them. They are mostly less ominous sounding too ( no curses or 'bad luck will befall you' nonsense). There are a few that I do pass on and that's usually if they involve Blessings and wishes. I do it for the sake of passing on those well-wishes or prayers but I don't follow the number that is specified. Why do people do that, attach number of times or specify number of emails to send out.
If it's a good message to pass on or a special blessing why not, by all means, send it out without conditions or ultimatums, just good old fashion goodwill.
I'm not knocking anyones' superstitions here, it's just my take.
(PS : A techie friend tells me that in some cases it's purely for data mining..so beware..!)
