$1.4 billion dollars…That’s the amount the Powerball lottery is estimated to be right now at the time of me writing this. While I know I’ve written several times about these huge lottery jackpots before, I feel that because this is the first time one of them has ever made it over the billion-dollar mark that I absolutely needed to say a few things about it in my blog.
First off, just a few facts I picked up along the way of reading about this staggering amount.
- There is at least a dozen or more countries in the world whose total net worth is less than this sum.
- A person’s chance of getting the winning numbers is around 1 in 292 million.
- An individual has a better chance of getting hit by lightning, become a mega movie star, a pro athlete, or being in a plane crash than winning.
Yet, most probably know these odds already but still go buy mass volumes of tickets hoping to be one of the lucky ones to win. They then dream of what they would do with their life and how things would change if they had all of that exorbitant amount to spend. But what most don’t know is how complicated their life could get having that much money.
They don’t think about the people that suddenly might come after them with lawsuits that probably never would have come to fruition without the winnings. They don’t think about all the individuals that quickly want to be their friends having all that money. They don’t think about all the people they already know and consider to be friends who start expecting them to pay more for things since they now have it to spend. And they definitely don’t think about how their ego will start vying for more control having all that cash on hand to do things like bypassing waits at restaurants, paying for someone to be with them who normally might not be, and seeking special treatment with a snap of the fingers wherever they go.
How do I know this? Well on some level I’ve lived it. While I may never have been a multi-millionaire at any point in this life so far, I have gone through an extended period where I did have enough to experience all those things and then some and I’m not proud of it. For the longest time I was ashamed of how much I let the money I once had control me, of how much I let it corrupt me, and of how much I let it consume my entire existence. But I am grateful to say that this isn’t who I am anymore and thankfully I’ve been able to forgive myself for what I allowed money to once create within me.
So while I may still buy a lottery ticket or two at the most for this landmark $1.4 billion dollar Powerball prize just to say I participated in it, I will say that if I somehow became one of those 1 in 292 million to win, much of it would be donated. Why? Because there are far more people in this world that need it than I. The majority of this world is filled with starving, thirsty, homeless, sick and ailing people, and it’s them who truly deserve this money.
The last thing I’d like to say on this mega lottery sum is really just a parting thought for anyone who ever reads this to ponder. I dream of a world where the lottery was for charity purposes only, but one where everyone still got involved in it just like they do now and playing in the hopes that if they won, they got to choose the charities it could be donated to. That’s my dream…but alas, that’s not the world we all live in today, but maybe one day it will be…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson