The Search For Enlightenment

They are estimating that tonight’s UK National Lottery draw will have a rollover jackpot of £5.9M. What would you do with that kind of money? Buy a fancy car, a posh house, a nice yacht maybe even a helicopter or plane ?

It’s a pipedream for so many people, which is where all the money comes from, from the tickets that people buy. For many, it is, in effect, their only realistic route to such riches. Or is it?

Buying their lottery tickets once, twice, or even three times a week, is their little bit of fantasy, their chance to win big. There is nothing wrong with such dreams, somebody has to win, sometime. But I wonder whether it masks, to some degree, their responsibility for their own lives, futures and fortunes?

Of course, the idea behind the lotteries, scratch cards and the rest of the paraphernalia is to raise money for projects, worthy causes and charity work that is so needed in these austere times. All well and good, it’s a bit of harmless fun, a couple of quid a week to buy the chance to live the high life.

I’ll never win it, I know that for a fact. The very first UK National Lottery was drawn on my 40th birthday, not as a celebration of that auspicious event, it just happened that way. For the first few weeks I went along with the wave of enthusiasm, the same as everyone else. When it became clear that there was more chance of being struck by lightning than picking six correct numbers, I stopped.

Now I’m not preaching against the evils of gambling, for that is what it is. I don’t want to stop people having a little slice of fun, if that is how they want to achieve that. But we are all responsible, all in charge and in control of our own fortunes, not those fat cats at Lottery HQ. So have your fun, get excited as the balls rattle around inside Arthur or Lancelot, but never forget, your life is your responsibility, take charge of it with both hands, summon up boundless determination and make it happen.