- Amanda Ha (G7) Jangan
Lottery and Money
We have at least once received a message about the lottery. Some might have thought about “What if I win the lottery?” at least once in their lifetime. I know I have, twice or more to say so. We can buy a lottery ticket easily since it’s affordable, and it never hurts anybody to test their luck once in a while. However, when it becomes a serious obsession, people might suffer from the stress of not winning the lottery, and not getting what they wish for. Then, that obsession will lead them to spend uncontrollably and irresponsibly on lottery tickets until they win the lottery because winning the lottery is the easiest way to earn lots of money at once. Nonetheless, this obsession blinds them from reality and makes them think that the lottery money will solve their problems and make up for all the money previously spent on tickets.
Speaking of such dreams and obsessions, when they win the lottery, first, they will use it freely as much as they want. They will not even look at the price tags of things and buy everything or do whatever they want with the money. Which is a natural reaction to the kind of money you acquire at once, natural but not practical. For a few days, they will be happy and satisfied. However, later, they will lose all the money, even the one they had before winning the lottery. It will be a matter of time to go back to their previous reality, if not worse than where they started. Money is everything nowadays; we can’t do anything without money. So, we must save money and use it wisely, despite having plenty of money or not.
It is easier said than done, but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try. Now, hence the redundancy, the million-dollar question once again arises, “What will one do if one wins a million dollars?” With the lottery, usually, people will either spend it uncontrollably or save/invest it. I also thought about if I won the lottery, what would I do with the money? Well, what would you do with such money? I have sort of a plan of what to do with the million dollars in my bank account if I am lucky enough to be blessed with such a great amount.
First, I would give 3/5 of the money to my parents. I have done nothing for my parents until now. I had never given them nice gift gestures because I can’t do anything on my own and get things from them. I feel sorry now that I think of it. So, if I win a million dollars, I would give them 3/5 of it. I always feel grateful to my parents for everything they have done for me; therefore I want to give them anything I can when I can. Another scenario can be my dad might quit his job and rest at home for a while, and my mom can buy anything she wants. It’s up to them what they would do with the money, but that will be a nice scenario to experience because my dad can use a break after what he has done for our family.
Now, for the rest of the money, I might keep it in a savings account. Nobody knows what curve balls life might throw at you, so I think that it is smart to keep a portion of the money in savings just in case there is a time in the future when I might need it. As for now, I am too young to be needing top-tier stuff. As a student, I don’t need those things; I just need the basics for my daily student life. Everything changes through choices, so being cautious and calculating for the future will not hurt me but prepare me. Even at school, they say saving money is important. I usually think that school doesn’t teach us important things about life other than “study hard to build up a nice future for yourself”, but the only thing I agree with is the importance of ‘saving money’. As I said, money plays a big role in this world. With money, we can do almost everything, and that’s why people do everything they can to get money and live a nice stable life.
Lastly, I want to travel to Japan. Japan is the place I want to go to nowadays without any particular reason. It has been a long time since I’ve been there. One good reason that I can think of is my love for Japanese jelly, which they only sell in Japan. I also want to buy the Maneki-Neko, a ‘Beckoning Cat’, to put on my desk for good luck. A small printer which I can use to print pictures via Bluetooth from my phone would be nice to have as well. If I have some money left, I want to buy a photo of my favorite idol group or use the printer to print them and put them inside my phone case as my friend does with her favorite idols. I think it’s a good idea to carry it like that. So far I would be pleased with these presents for myself.
Winning a million dollars from the lottery is a unique experience. It is a great experience that requires an extreme amount of luck; so many people just hope about it and test their luck by buying lottery tickets. I also don’t think it will happen to me, but when a million dollars comes to me, I will use it well. However, I don’t want to get stressed later because of the money, I already have enough to stress about, such as homework, exams at school, and millions of other academy stuff. However, I don’t think we can live comfortably without money when money is a major aspect of life. Some people die and struggle because of money problems and rich people are getting richer in our society. It’s a very sad thing to see, and I think it’s unfair. The lottery gives us a slight chance of hope and excitement, but it can’t be everything. It can be negative to people, but what can we do? We should accept reality but also try to change it through hard work rather than waiting for a miracle to change our fate. Thus, a little hope and imagination will not hurt us once in a while, just don’t let it take control over your life.
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