my confession
I admit it, sometimes I fantasize about winning the lottery. There was a lot of water cooler talk about it yesterday, with the pot up to $370 million. I even considered actually buying a ticket myself, just because I’m kind of a lemming in situations like that. But in the end, I was too embarrassed by my lottery ineptitude (never having purchased a lottery ticket before), and I passed on that 1 in 168,000,000 chance to win.
But sometimes I think about what it would be like to suddenly have that much money at my disposal. What would I do with it? Well, I know what the initial impulses would be. I would quit my job, buy a house and the 4Runner I've been wanting. And maybe the Astin Martin. Caleb could quit his job, buy his dream computer, and pursue all his artistic dreams without having to worry about how lucrative they would be. We could take vacations wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. We could buy out REI and have all the ultra light gear we wanted!
And just think about all the money I could give away! There are countless causes out there just waiting for a wealthy benefactor to help them accomplish their altruistic goals, not to mention those everyday opportunities to be generous. That would be so fun.
Although there are fun things I would love to have the freedom to purchase and do, I think the real lure of easy money is the fact that it is easy. Who wouldn't love to suddenly be free from their financial burdens, tight budgets, and having to choose between things we want and things we need?
Its funny, even as I write I keep trying to come up with some deeply profound reason why winning the lottery is bad for me, but I can’t come up with something all that compelling. Yes, we learn great lessons when we have to budget our money, say no to thinks we want, and work hard for our money … but I grew up that way. Surely my lessons are learned and now I’d be one of those wise lottery winners.
Man, I should have bought that ticket.
And yet, I have read that 9 out of 10 lottery winners say it ruined their lives. Though I'd still like to be given the opportunity to find out if I could be that odd 1 in 10, I can easily understand the statistic. When we are given so much something for absolutely nothing, we often don't appreciate it.
I guess a world full of lottery winners might look a lot like a world of Paris Hiltons.
Yikes.
Maybe my lottery ineptitude isn’t such a bad thing.
