I once met an old

I once met an old man on an old sidewalk whose soles were caked with gum. I said, "You must be terribly unlucky?" He replied, "Probably not so much as I am conscientious." Then he read aloud obstinately from a postcard he was holding, "A wise man will not leave the right of the mercy to chance!"

I think that poor guy was hit by a bus months later, but I don't know if that tells us anything.