Future Lottery Winner

Hey, everyone! Has anyone watched that show on The Learning Channel, aka TLC called The Lottery Changed My Life? This is a show about a few people who wanted to go on cable TV and tell their stories about how their lives have changed since winning a lottery. Keep in mind these people chose to let their lives be told. They could’ve kept to themselves, like many winners do. I have seen people win various amounts of dough, even season tickets to Baltimore Ravens home games FOR LIFE!!!

Some of you may remember the story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. In it the unlikely “winner” was stoned to death by the locals. That person was chosen by an old-fashioned way: by drawing straws. The one with the shortest one was doomed. I got to see a short film in high school based on this story. How dreadful.

Like everything else in life, winning something as prestigious as a state lottery will have its price. I have heard about some people to simply blow oodles of dollars in only a few years time. Talk about going from rags to riches, then back to rags again. Spending it on homes, cars, jewelry, etc.  All those material things that you know too damn well you can’t take with you when you get called home. There have even been stories about a Florida man who won $17 million in a lottery, then basically gave a lot of it to family and friends, only to by eventually murdered by his so-called girlfriend, who was allegedly watching over his new found wealth. I didn’t want to mention that this “winner” was actually illiterate, which is why he wasted away his money winnings on the wrong people.   

This country has had at least several lotteries over the past 16 months where the jackpot was beyond insane. Powerball had jackpot of over $600 million last year. Mega Millions surpassed that earlier this year with a staggering jackpot of over $900 million! You can only wonder what you could do with that. Wait-you COULDN’T! Too many people who don’t even know you WILL come ask you for a piece of that pie. This is why in the states of Maryland, Missouri and a few others you can remain anonymous in collecting the winnings. No one will ever know your kids’ college education has just been paid and then some, unless you have extremely chatty neighbors who want their own piece of the casserole as hush money.

Sadly here in Illinois, the last of the three Powerball winners HAD to face the media and get asked a ton of questions. It’s mandatory to do so here. Don’t ask why. As for the lucky $900 million Mega Millions winner in Florida, who reportedly was in her 80’s, she let the financial advisor do the dirty work. Her grandkids are set for life!!!

So why on earth am I talking about lottery fever? Well, let’s face it: The area where I currently reside has among the highest unemployment rates in the state. Yes, I have placed applications to work at a few places, however my work record might not keep the eyes of the employers open long enough to give me a chance. This is one of the reasons why I decided to start working for myself and open a business here. However, starting your own business does cost a bit of money…something I have never have had a great quantity of in my life.

Yes, I know about the odds of actually winning a lottery jackpot, quick pick or scratch-off. Chances of getting struck by a lightning bolt or the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series seemingly are better bets than winning the lottery. However, as my age keeps crawling toward senior citizen status, what do I have to lose here? Time? Weight? More teeth? Maybe not my teeth. But I do know there are people in this country who are in the same position as I am, not wanting to become erroneous snobs, but having a reasonable nest egg when their working years have concluded. 

I don’t want to become a spoiled person. Those who know me are well aware I have never been that way. After paying off those folks who have bugged me over the years, I do want to get a house of my own, have my own special ride (a minivan), work on doing more advertising for my travel business and take some vacations to all those places I have only dreamed about since my childhood back home in Milwaukee.  Why can’t I be a lottery winner? I won’t yak about it like other people on TV. Being anonymous does have its advantages, you know.

Some lottery winners do give back to their community. What I would do is to renovate every last dilapidated house in my city. Then I would sell them back to the city so those who are looking for low-income housing can have a much better place of their own, instead of residing in a crime-ridden housing development. Hey, it’s just an idea.  I do want to give something back to Rockford for all these years residing here. Maybe even create a scholarship in my name to my collegiate alma mater, Dillard University. I’m getting some ideas here, but I do have my limits. I will have a good level head on what to do when I do become a lottery winner. It also helps to have a brother-in-law in the family that can work with lottery payments so I can use what I want and put the rest up for a long time. This is what some folks fail to do when they get their dough.

I am no gambler. I do use common sense when I buy a few tickets. It is only so planning on when that day is going to come. I don’t think I’ll hold my breath should those goons at Publisher’s Clearing House come knocking at my door. Chances are good I’ll be out of the house, continuing to struggle until that promising day….which had better be soon. There’s no fun winning a bunch of dough when you’re old and grey!