“If you don’t play, you will not win,” Gary Grief, Executive Director of the Texas Powerball Lottery, advised in a recent interview. Grief (yes, that is really his last name) was, of course, referring to the still growing Jackpot.
Like anything in life, when done in a balanced way, no harm, no foul. Drop the equivalent of a designer coffee on a few tickets now and again, no big deal. But, too often, we hear stories of people scraping together their dollars to buy tickets while bills for life’s necessities like food and utilities go unpaid.
Then we have the dreamers. Just check out your Facebook feed full of “If I win, I will do X.” So many visions and endeavors of kindness put on hold until the nearly impossible happens.
“If you don’t play, you will not win.” Grief, of course, means to encourage people to keep betting in the hope that a lottery win will change everything for them. But what if we take a moment and consider the message in a different way? Consider applying this not to buying lottery tickets but to getting in the game called ‘Life’. If you sit on the sidelines hoping for the perfect time or the perfect conditions, chances are that is where you will remain.
If you don’t play the game of life, you cannot win. Life is about the experiences we create, the memories we make, the moments we treasure.
If I win the Powerball, I will…
- Help those who are struggling
- Spend more time with my family
- Do something I am passionate about
These are just some of the unfulfilled wishes showing up in Facebook newsfeeds this week as people dream of actions they seem to believe require a lot of luck and the win of a jackpot.
Yet, there are so many who do not wait to make changes and make a difference. How much money do you really need to help someone in need? There are clean water projects, food banks, blood drives, fundraising marathons, and more. What can you do today, without a million dollars, to make small changes that can mean a big difference? Will you continue to sit on the sidelines waiting for something that most likely will never occur or will you take action now? The choice is yours.
