The Weight of Unearned Wins

Quick money — through lottery winning, the stock market, or gambling — seduces us into the belief that we can get it again. Failing to understand the win as a mere probability makes the ensuing dopamine surge addictive. What's worse, when granted far more than is required to have, humans often descend into avarice.

We narrow our focus to exploit systems for another win, while forfeiting building our foundation: our character. Over the years, we are no better than we were before, except that we are richer or poorer depending on the luck of the draw. Our knowledge, skills, and potential are squandered on a statistical bet. We atrophy.

Many lottery winners find their lives diminished after their watershed event. Their characters were never tempered to handle the weight of the winnings. If everything we desired simply fell from the sky, we would rot in our own comfort and be miserable beings.

Challenges and hardship forge our characters. They make difficult goals worth pursuing and render our relationships profoundly beautiful.