In what way would winning the CA, state lottery ticket makes you bad - Essay Example

In What Way Would Winning the CA, Lottery Makes You Bad Almost- if not entirely- everyone would like to be rich. Equally, almost- again, if not entirely- everyone would like to do that with the littlest effort possible, maybe even without any effort at all. Winning the lottery is the closest thing to having both: doing little and being rich. Winning the lottery would, therefore, be a dream come true for many. But that is not necessarily the case. In fact, winning, say, the CA lottery would most likely ruin a college student’s- and anyone else for that matter- life.

Having a lot of money comes with a lot of responsibility. But the responsibility of dealing with a lot of money can be as stressful as managing little. This is even harder for a person who is suddenly find themselves plunged from modest financial ground to extreme wealth. Just to show how hard it can to deal with a lot of money, consider the advice given to a young South African entrepreneur. Kunene was one of the 10 finalists of the South African Breweries Kick Start Business Competition for his business, Mind Trix Media (specializing in web development and design, development of mobile applications, printing and marketing) and met a number of motivational entrepreneurs, including Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson.

Kunene says one of the most important pieces of advice he got was to see a psychologist once he got his first million (Tshabalala 23).A lot of money affects one’s psychology. They might start seeing themselves as better than everyone else. On the other hand, friends might start to feel their friend (the one who has the lottery) is acting different. They might be right, but they might also be wrong, seeing what they want to see out of envy. Either way, this is how money separates friends. Further, if a college student wins good fortune in lottery, they might start to think that they are now already successful, that they do not need college education anymore.

Besides, they might argue, we have successful college dropouts in Bill Gates, Richard Branson and who would forget Steve Jobs. What they might not see is that these people dropped out of college with concrete visions of where they wanted to do with their lives, where they wanted to be. Of course, it took some risk. But they left college to work toward that vision. Another thing about these famously rich college dropouts is that they have worked hard for what they have or, in the case of Steve Jobs, had.

That is the other problem about lottery money; it comes easy. And I like to think that people tend to be more protective over what they have worked hard for than what they have not. And this is the curse of lottery money, the fact that it comes easy and, therefore, one does not feel like they need to have some control over how they spend it. A college student who suddenly finds themselves with a lot of money is most likely to have no vision other than to spend the money. Moreover, say they chose to invest, the fact that they have money might push them to reckless investments.

In conclusion, this paper does not hold that lottery money can necessarily ruin one’s life. However, lottery money has ruined the lives of many winners. This is probably true for young people (like college students) than adults. Works CitedTshabalala, Tshepo. Accused and Abused. Forbes Africa, August 2014. Print.