Today’s (or rather yesterday’s) writing prompt asks what we would do if we won the lottery. I say “or rather yesterday’s” because it’s already gone midnight, and while a thousand and one things have stacked on top of each other today, I couldn’t resist writing something.
While washing up earlier, I turned the “winning the lottery” question over in my head again and again - wondering what I would do. I wondered if I would just flat-out disappear - just vanish off the face of the earth.
I don’t think I would be able to deal with the begging letters and phone calls. I wonder how past lottery winners have dealt with it? Because you’re not going to be able to keep it completely secret, are you - people are going to find out - and when they do, the letters will start arriving.
If you win money through luck, a lot of people are probably going to think they were more deserving of it than you - and I would find it incredibly difficult to deal with them. In the real world I tend to work like a trojan most of the time - working my ass off to provide for my family - and tend to put myself last at every turn.
I’m pretty selfless - which probably isn’t the best trait if you come into money - or at least not if you want to keep hold of it, or use it for the benefit of your children.
Maybe that’s it. Maybe the best thing to do with a lottery win is to put it all into a trust fund - so nobody can touch it - and just pay yourself a living wage from it (if you give up work).
I wonder if giving up work would be a bit of a disaster though - some of the best friendships I have happened through work. Maybe other friendship circles might form though if I didn’t work - but then work is such a common experience for the vast majority - I couldn’t ever imagine “fitting in” with the 1%. I don’t share their values - if anything I massively object to their values.
People are probably wondering why I wouldn’t donate it to charity if I felt strongly about not wanting the money. Don’t get me wrong - money does make life a lot easier - and charity is wonderful too - but I object to the big charities because they tend to squander the money they give out on middle-managers and advertisement campaigns. Every time I see a flyer come through the door I think “well you just wasted somebody’s hard earned fund-raising, right there”.
It’s so hard to figure out how you might make a different to a cause you care about, without being taken advantage of or without failing to make any kind of real difference.
Perhaps the real win in winning the lottery would be to afford you the time to help those that need it. If you no longer had to work, you could invest yourself in others - and that’s probably far more important than any thing, or temporary injection of cash, or whatever else. Having the time to “be there” would probably make a much bigger difference.
Anyway.
That’s probably what I would do if I won the lottery - invest my time in those that need somebody to be there. I bet you would meet some incredible people - people who the world has dealt a really shitty hand, and just need somebody to remind them that they’re actually pretty awesome. Because most people are.