Sunday Stream (277) ~ April Fools Day

[mtmynd]

I fell in line with the millions of others who wanted to take their chance at winning the Mega Millions Lottery Friday night. This is not something I do with any regularity, i.e. buy lottery tickets, but I was caught up in the 'fever' that had struck the country like I really don't recall ever seeing before. Friday afternoon I went to the local corner store and stood in line to purchase three tickets. I used the numbers that were on an old ticket I once found that belonged to my mother who passed over 9 years ago. She never bought the tickets but left the mark-off in a pile of paper on her table. I thought if she wanted me to have the money she'd talk to the Lottery God and put in a good word on her youngest son. Why not? She could never win but I perhaps had as good a chance as 127 million to one did, after all somebody would have to win the damn thing at last, wouldn't they? But in all honesty did I have a chance at all in winning? Did the millions of others have a chance of winning?

Three winners had their chance and two of them stole the whole ball of dough from one. No such luck would win the entire $640 Million but a generous split among the three made each winner some $213 million, nothing to sneeze at.

I imagine roughly 95% of the 99% of us who'll never come close in approaching the vast wealth of the exclusive 1%, fantasized what that amount of money would buy them. It's like a 21st Century fairy tale where the golden slipper is the winning ticket and the winner is taken away in a dream coach to wherever their heart desires. Money will buy you anything, mostly fantasies, but a few generous donations thrown in here and there would alleviate the possible guilt one may experience having all that money given to you overnight for doing absolutely nothing to deserve it, unless you think standing in line waiting with others with the same intent is deserving.

The country has mega billionaires and they presumably have no guilt knowing they have that mush money. Afterall the either inherited their wealth or worked and schemed for years and years doing what they really believed in to finally have the 'big pay-off.' Nobody would begrudge anyone like that.. or shouldn't. We'd all feel pretty damn good if we hit it big with something we really enjoyed doing or knew someday would be really big.

So why do lottery winners by and large go broke by the 5 - 10th year? That is a statistic I recently heard. Not all, of course, but a fair majority. It's this attitude of entitlement... who actually deserves $640 million (before taxes)? We all work most of our lives, large numbers of us doing tasks that we wouldn't do if we didn't need a job. But we're no different from our fellow employees - we get up in the morning and go to work, normally 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, putting in our 40 hour week to get a paycheck which we use to pay our bills, our rent, our food and the following week we begin all over again. That's why this routine is called a 'job'... a not-so-friendly sounding three letter word that doesn't inspire much creativity in us. "Job"... dull word for a monotonous hourly task.

So why wouldn't most of us take a chance on escaping from that endless cycle that we have all become so accustomed to? When they payoff of the lottery win matches our fantasy of escape, we easily fall for it. Even tho most of us would never agree that 'we deserve' that much sudden wealth, it's all a fantasy and when the times get tough and the body is weary, a good fantasy is a great escape whether it be thru buy a lottery ticket, reading a fantasy novel or watching a movie where we can escape for a couple of hours. Methinks it's hu'man thing to seek out a path away from our doldrums. We do it when we really need it.

If the lottery is won, I don't think most winners really believe it even when they're presented the giant check with cameras clicking and people cheering for the winner. It's a dream that we really don't accept as reality at that moment. It's hard to take in the fact that one day we were broke (or near so) and the next we're as rich as we could ever hope to be. It's an extreme shift from one to the other... so extreme that many winners never really accept it but spend and buy the things they've always wanted or dreamed of... paying for it from this seemingly endless well of money. Who could ever go broke with that much money? It could never be imagined anymore than winning the lottery could be imagined. This allure, this incredible fantasy come true really could happen to someone we know someday... it could even be you or me. When our lives shift from first gear and shoot up to forth gear in 3.2 seconds, the speed of change may turn our fantasy back into a pumpkin before we know it. The ticket gone and the journey but a fond memory.

don't be fooled on
April Fools Day!
~~~*~~~

cecil
4.01.12

Picture of the Week:

Canna Lillies


photo: cecil

[Artguy]

Ya April's fools day...had my appendix removed yesterday...ouch.

[mtmynd]

do you weigh less? what was wrong with it... other than it wasn't working as it should.

Being the American I am, I'd like to know if this operation cost anything other than your citizenship?

[Artguy]

It was ready to explode..I was bent over in pain...artwoman took me to the hospital..6 hours later it was done..with lotsa good drugs and all part of our universal care...I like relating the successes as we do have them despite what some say.

[stilltrucking]

I fell in line with the millions of others who wanted to take their chance at winning the Mega Millions Lottery Friday night. This is not something I do with any regularity, i.e. buy lottery tickets, but I was caught up in the 'fever' that had struck the country like I really don't recall ever seeing before. Friday afternoon I went to the local corner store and stood in line to purchase three tickets. I used the numbers that were on an old ticket I once found that belonged to my mother who passed over 9 years ago. She never bought the tickets but left the mark-off in a pile of paper on her table. I thought if she wanted me to have the money she'd talk to the Lottery God and put in a good word on her youngest son. Why not? She could never win but I perhaps had as good a chance as 127 million to one did, after all somebody would have to win the damn thing at last, wouldn't they? But in all honesty did I have a chance at all in winning? Did the millions of others have a chance of winning?

That's a winner Cecil. Thank you for writng that. It is beautiful, so is the picture.

I bought one ticket, the cashier asked me twice if thatwas all I wanted, I figured one should have been enough, statistics were never my long suit. I am statistically challenged. I blew my mind on statistics and mescaline in 1972, never have been able to get my head around the idea that the only reality is a statistical one. I am probably just too lazy to do the math

640 Million Bucks, or maybe even 1,900,000,000 with the multipleir 3X thingy.
I was thinking what would I do with a billion bucks after taxes, somebody on TV said start your own "super-pac"
I was kind of thinking like your mother I think, what good, "real good" could I do with that kind of money, set up a network of zen centers for returning combat veterans and former citizens of our criminal justice system.

[mtmynd]

I like relating the successes as we do have them despite what some say.

I wish that day would arrive in "the land of the free and the home of the brave."

glad it all went well for you, artguy, and got some good drugs as your reward.

[Arcadia]

good you survived the cut of the apéndice, artguy! & yeah, sometimes painkillers are still good if you are not a sort of raja-yogui or you don´t have a hipnotizer near!

to have a Fool´s day sounds like a concientization day ... we have so many days in my country but still not a fool´s day ... , maybe we should adopt it from your country instead of St. Patrick´s or Halloween... & no idea about lottery, I´m numbers blind...!

& lovely image, gracias for the stream Cecil!!!!!!!

saludos,

Arcadia

[mtmynd]

"V": "we have so many days in my country but still not a fool´s day ..."

both our country's seem to be rich with holidays/special commemorative days. Altho, like your own, I'm sure, not all of them give a day off from work, including our 'Fool's Day", which would be a foolish thing to do.

I'm surprised Argentina does not have a lottery. We do not have a National Lottery but each estado has the option to have their own lottery to raise money for various projects. Some lotteries, like the one mentioned in the Stream, are the efforts of several states working together to create very large jackpots, which in turn draws lots of people hoping to win.... with many, many losers.

Gracias, amiga mia.