Where your treasure is
Well, it’s happened again. A working-class man spends a few dollars on a lottery ticket and wins big. With the new-found wealth, his life changes completely. And not for the better.
Three years later, the body of $17-million Florida Lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare has been found buried behind a home belonging to the boyfriend of a woman who befriended Shakespeare not long after he won his prize.
It’s easy to dismiss this as stupidity and say that Shakespeare merely demonstrated a lack of common sense that ended up getting him killed. Which he did, of course—after all, if not, why didn’t he suspect something was up when his new “friend” helped him set up a shell company and then proceeded to give herself signing authority to his money?
But that’s exactly the point. People can be utterly clueless, especially when it comes to matters of finance. (Consider the reason why 419 scams still persist: they still work.) In this case, you’ll notice something particularly striking: Shakespeare was “barely literate”.
Without wisdom, wealth is meaningless.
I had a look at the press release the Florida Lottery issued back when Shakespeare won his millions. In particular, it calls attention to the fact that profits from the lottery are used to support the state’s education budget. Ironic, then, that Shakespeare won the lottery, because an education would surely have been infinitely more valuable.
Something that really jumps out at me about this story, however, isn’t covered by the BBC’s version of events. You see, Shakespeare was last seen in April last year, but wasn’t actually reported missing until November. That’s seven months in which nobody either noticed that he had disappeared or found it unusual that he hadn’t been heard from in such a long time.
That’s seven months where nobody thought of asking him to lunch just to catch up and see how he was doing—or even to pick up the phone and just say hi.
I’m no fan of the lottery, but I’ll readily admit that on occasion, I do wonder what I’d do if I won. Not in any wishful manner, mind you, but as more of an analytical exercise to see where my priorities lie. And then it dawns on me: truth is, I’ve already won the lottery many times over.
I won the lottery when I was born and raised in Canada, a country of immense prosperity and freedom. There isn’t another country in the world whose passport I’d trade mine for.
I won the lottery when an entire history of amazing music became a part of my life.
I won the lottery when I had the opportunity to go to school and get an education.
I won the lottery when I met friends whom I know wouldn’t take seven months to report me missing if I suddenly disappeared.
And that’s so much more valuable than anything money can buy.