Buy-a-hope

My mother is always hounding me to mark some boxes for her during the toto season. (that is, when the prize money goes above 2 million, sometimes just a million dollars)

The only time I bothered to entertain her is during the Chinese New Year, $10 million draw.
Other than that, I hardly or almost never bothered with toto or 4D.
And it's not because I am a very religious person and detest gambling. I think gambling is fine as long as there is a limit to it. Because it can be quite entertaining. Especially when it comes to gambling on soccer matches etc.
4D and toto however, I cannot really tolerate.
The probabilities are sickening. Seriously, what are the odds of picking 6 winning numbers and hitting that 5 million jackpot?

My mummy always say, you don't just buy a ticket (of 6 numbers), you are buying hope.
Which I agree.
When you spend money buying those lottery tickets, you are in honesty merely buying hope.
Contrary to popular belief (or self-delusion) you are not buying the winning ticket. Instead, you spend varying amounts of money just buying those little fleeting moments of hope. Because when you do really buy a combination of 6 numbers you are officially able to daydream and wonder just what you could/would do with say $5 million dollars.
If you (like me) chose not to invest a single cent on this ridiculous lottery, well sure you can still ask yourself what you could/would do with $5 million dollars, but this question will sound less convincing. Afterall, you haven't really bought a ticket that would entitle you rights to daydream about the money that could (but probably will never) be yours.

With a lottery ticket in your wallet, with a string of 6 numbers you clearly enjoy total legitimate rights to ask yourself that nice, warm fuzzy question.

$5 million dollars, what will I do with it?

The reason why I don't often buy lottery (sometimes I cave in and invest a maximum of $5 on toto and $2 on 4D) is because I don't understand why anyone would hanker over some prize money and subject yourself to the mental torture of hoping.
As with all hopes, the higher your hopes (that is, more money spent), usually the harder your fall.
And I hate hopes.
I hate the fact that you had a stab at something that you thought would be nice, but at the end of the day, all's lost. The money is won by some other (m*therf*ckers - I didn't really say this out loud) very very lucky people and just not you.
And you'd ask yourself, "Why them? and not ME?"
Then you go on hoping the next draw it'll be you or the next and the next and the next.
My point is, there would really be no end to this hope.

You buy till your death bed, and you have yet to hit that one big major prize, and then what?

Another reason why I don't like lottery is, why should we be pining over some prize money in the first place?
Why are we pooling money together so one lucky (m*therf*cker - I again didn't really say this out loud) fella will walk away with your pooled money?
You do realise that the winning prize consist of the amount of money that you had sacrificed and invested. So why let them walk away with your hard-earned money?

Funny.

Do we hope to win the prize money because money is something that everyone covets for?
But why are we investing all that money on more money?
We like to think that money solves our problems.
That is, if I win the lottery, I will be happy, because then I can kick my boss' ass and tell him to suck my toe because I don't care about that stinking job anymore, or that I can buy that mega huge house and be all chi-chi about it, or I can walk into LV and throw some hard cash on the snobby faces and demand all the bags on the shelf, or I can cruise around Orchard Road with me spanky WRX STI and go pssstt psssttt at every straight road. Hell, I'd close of all the roads in Orchard Road to make sure I can ppssssttt psssstttt. Thereafter, I'd hop out of my WRX and speed off in my Lambogini. Or maybe winning the lottery means I get to jetset around the frickin materialistic world and dine at stay in every single spa resort on the beach and waste my frickin life away just because I honestly have the money... and the list really goes on.

The point is, do we all really assume that problems would stop right after the point where monies are collected and safe in the frickin bank of yours?
The thought really is a simplified thought.
Granted, you'd be happy at your newfound wealth for perhaps a couple of weeks, months or maybe years.
But life goes on.
War continues even though you've struck the lottery.
Diseases are still rampant even though you've struck the lottery.
Death will eventually befall upon you even though you've struck the lottery.
Your SO is still going to cheat on you (if he/she is destined to) even though you struck the lottery.
PAP will still be the ruling party even though you struck the lottery. (ok, I don't really mean it the bad way ya?)
The economy will still grow even though you struck the lottery.
Inflation will still be inevitable even though you struck the lottery.

So really,
so fucking what if you won the lottery?

Life will perhaps be less inbearable (not much) because you are suddenly fatter in the pocket. You can afford better medical services if say you fall ill, you can live in a bigger house, drive a bigger car etc etc if you struck the lottery.
But you are not guaranteed of eternal happiness because you struck the lottery. You are only temporarily relieved of pain, thereafter it will hit you on full force once more (or perhaps worse) after the effects of the lottery has settled in.

Your family may or may not fight over the money.
You may or may not invest the money well to ensure you'd get sufficient to see you through the rest of your life.
You may or may not share it with your loved ones around you (thereby, greatly diminishing your winnings).

You still may die of some terminal illness that money cannot cure.

So why hope for something comparatively useless by nature?
Today, you might have struck that $5 million dollars.
Tomorrow, some other country may decide to dump a missile on us, and that $5 million dollars become.. nothing valuable.

If, say we are asked to invest on a lottery of life.
And the person who wins get to win something intangible and correct it or perfecting it, I then would invest heavily on it.

The prize could be disease free life for my entire family for eternity.
Or
-thunder roar-
WORLD PEACE
I'd invest heavily.

Why are we hoping for a million bucks to our name, when children are still caught in the crossfire between Israel and Lebanon?
Why are we hoping for a million bucks to our name, when terrorists are still roaming the streets threatening to wipe off that grin of yours the moment you're on the plane?

Oh.
I didn't mean for this to be a preachy entry on money and stuff.
But it's Monday for goodness sake.
I am entitled to rant on a Monday.