This afternoon I bought my $5 lottery ticket for Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing. My four hand-scribbled and one quick-pick option ticket was handed to the cashier at the corner gas station. I was given my print out and as always a “good luck” from the cashier followed. I’ve been playing twice a week now for the past few weeks, watching the unclaimed jackpot slowly rise after each drawing from around $100m to now $224m. I have only won $7 since my first $5 bet back when I was hoping to win a cash buyout of $70m. With Friday night’s buyout option, this dream win would be $138m. That amount of money is enough to inspire people. If not for the very idea of winning, much less possessing $138m, people wouldn’t play. I think in some ways we imagine that we’re going to be that guy one day. The one driving the Lamborghini, living in that mansion by the sea. But in reality it’s truly unimaginable, no matter how hard we try and wrap our minds around it. What happens to those who achieve the unimaginable. An award as grand as the lottery, the highest on record being $390m. An amount so large, from an amount so little, $1. Not even an investment. A value less than a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread multiplying $390m times. What happens to the man who goes from having nothing to suddenly having it all? In once instance, it was a man who already had it all and was given more and then lost everything.
