As of this writing the Powerball lottery is approaching $400 million. It gives me pause for thought.

Why do we play lotteries? I think it’s inherent in human nature to dream of bigger things. We think about the possibilities. “What would I do with all that money?” Many of us plan great things and think of the altruistic things we could do. After we buy that villa in Tuscany, of course. “The high school band needs new uniforms? No problem, I’ll take care of that.” “What, you need a car to get to work? Go pick one out; I’ll take care of it.” We dream of the places we’d go, the things we’d buy, the great things we could do.

But the truth is that there are many lotteries in life. We pays our money and we takes our chances. We go to school hoping to get an education for a decent job. But isn’t a job a type of lottery? You play the lottery and pick a vocation. Maybe it’s a winning one, maybe not. You play the lottery and pick a place to work. You don’t really know if you’ll like the place you work until you start working there. If you’re the person hiring a worker, you play the lottery and pick who you hope is the winning ticket. If they work out then you’ve hit the lottery. If they don’t you buy another ticket.

Relationships are that way too. How do you know if you’ve picked the winning ticket until you pay for it? There are some of us who have to buy several tickets before we hit the jackpot. I was lucky; I hit the big one first time out. Oh, I looked at tickets, several of them, came close to buying one a time or two, but I bought a winning ticket 32 years ago and haven’t regretted picking those numbers since. I don’t need to look at relationship tickets anymore.

For those of you who are still buying tickets; I hope you buy a winning ticket and enjoy life the way I do. I will buy a Powerball ticket just to give me the chance to dream a little. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with dreaming as long as dreaming isn’t all you do. But dreaming is healthy in the right portions. Work as hard as you can, making sure that some of the work you do is working toward fulfilling dreams. 

So, what color should I paint the villa?