These are words that bring a chill to my husband because they usually mean I want to change something and if there's one thing Pisces does not like it's change.
This time, though, it's something entirely different. I've been thinking about how people have expectations of how others should behave when it's really nothing to do with them. And what set this off you might ask? Well one of the Australia wide Lotto games reached a jackpot this week of $110,000,000 which is a heck of a lot by any standard. Now I'm not a regular player - I probably take out a twelve game randomly generated entry six or seven times a year. I never expect to win anything - which is just as well because I've only won a few dollars ever - but because the profit from Lotto in this state goes to charity I don't feel I'm wasting my money either.
But this very big jackpot set off those who seem to begrudge anyone who had the good fortune to win the whole lot their luck. (No one person did by the way. It ended up being shared out among a number of folk who all had the winning numbers). There were letters to the editor in the newspaper saying so much money was too much for any one person because other big winners have made bad investments or wasted it. Part of this was no doubt because a big winner a while ago made a bad decision in handing over his winnings to someone who purported to be a financial adviser but wasn't and he lost the lot. This is now before the courts because there was obviously misleading behaviour and if he's lucky he may get some of it back. Does that mean he shouldn't have been given the money in the first place? Should it have been divided among a number of people - and if it was would that be any guarantee that they wouldn't all be defrauded?
Why shouldn't any big winner be allowed to do whatever they like with their winnings? After all what one person considers waste another might consider well spent. If someone has a big win and decides to have a year long party and ends up broke at the end surely that's their choice. Equally if they do nothing except put it in the bank, or play the stock market and lose everything it's their decision. It might not be wise in my view - I'd probably try to secure myself and my family's future and give what was left to charity - but it would be their choice and unless they were incapable of managing their financial affairs for some reason I can see no reason why it shouldn't be left to them to do what they want. One thing is sure - I would not judge them whatever choice they made. Who's to say that they might not benefit from the whole experience even if it didn't leave them secure for the rest of their lives and if they ended back where they started financially well, why is that necessarily a bad thing?
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