Later tonight the country will frantically await for the
Powerball numbers to be announced and with it the chance to win an astonishing
1.5 BILLION DOLLARS! For the past week,
the news stations have been talking about the Powerball lottery and when no one
won the jackpot this past Saturday night, this will be the biggest national lottery
prize ever recorded!
However, despite the frenzy of imagining yourself as a new
Billionaire, I cannot help but think about how foolish and greedy the Powerball
is making us as a nation look.
For the past eight years, most political debates centered around
the haves vs the have nots and the rich vs the poor. How many times did you have to listen to some
commentator talk about taking from the wealthier citizens and “redistribute” to
the poorer neighborhoods. Or another
commentator talk about how we, the United States, have become another Welfare
State; contributing to people’s sense of entitlements, handouts, and lack of
personal responsibility.
These are all serious social issues that cannot be solved
overnight. And the lack of funding for
very important social programs that can help people better their lives are
disheartening.
But…there is always the Lottery.
Since Sunday, people have been waiting in lines to purchase
a $2 piece of paper – and tonight on my way home I will be no different. But as a result, I couldn’t help but wonder WHAT
IF EVERY CITIZEN IN THIS GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS DONATED $2 A WEEK?!
· We could help feed the hungry. In a report published in 2013, 1 in 7
children were undernourished or underfeed in the USA.
· We could expand programs for the elderly such as
assisting them with high prescription drug costs
· We could provide housing to the homeless by
fixing up abandoned homes and create more shelters
· We could create a funding program so that
everyone gets an education
· We could create more animal shelters so that the
term “high kill shelter” becomes a thing of the past
· We could create local infrastructure programs to
help build better sidewalks, parks, etc…
These are just some of the things that can be
accomplished. And there would be no
bashing of Republicans vs Liberals or Wealthy vs Poor. Because we, as citizens, will be helping
ourselves in our own communities for just a price of $2 a week.
Or we can just keep playing lotto.
#greed
#lotto
#powerball
#society
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