Overcoming Stereotypes

The lottery is a game played by many Americans each day. Although the chances of winning are slim, many spend money on a ticket just to try their luck. Those who are lucky enough to guess the random number drawing for the lottery, are blessed with riches. This large sum of money is a blessing, but it comes with a number of curses as well. Nine times out of ten, a large sum of money like this will change a person's life, along with their personality. That ten percent of people houses a family that is as kind, warm hearted and helpful as they were before the lotto. Deep down inside behind all of the material things these folks are still truly wonderful people.

Twelve years ago a friend of mine was living a normal American life. She worked a nine to five job and her husband ran a small construction business. They had two kids both of which were young at the time. Occasionally when they had some extra cash and were near a liquor store they would buy a lottery ticket. Every time they would play my friend would discuss what she would do with her winnings with a co-worker. Without any hesitation she would tell him that the first two things she would do is, start a cat rescue, and give a portion to her family. Never once did she include herself in the plan for her winnings; that is just the type of person she was. She always put others first. Her co-worker would always say, "just wait until you win; you will change your mind right away." Little did he know that she would get the chance to prove him wrong.

One morning over Labor day weekend while reading the newspaper her husband decided to check their ticket. After matching all of the numbers and not believing his eyes, he rushed outside yelling to his wife that they hit the lotto. She was also as shocked as he was and immediately went into denial thinking it couldn't be true. They waited until the Tuesday after Labor day and went into the liquor store to confirm their numbers. Sure enough they really did win. The next step was to go to Baltimore and collect their winnings. Upon arriving they found out that they won seventeen million dollars. After taxes and finding out they had to cash it over twenty years it didn't seem quite as much. Still excited and shocked they met with a financial planner to prevent spending the money on things that were not worth while. Sticking to her plan the friend of mine told the planner that a portion of the money from each check every year would go to their families and to her rescue. After word spread rapidly in the small town things began to get hairy.

Being money hungry Americans, people started to make threats against her kids. They also started coming out of the woodwork asking for money. This madness astonished these kind people and they didn't want any part of it. After giving winnings to their family and setting it aside for the rescue they built a new house on a decent amount of land. Many people would stop at the property stereotyping and ask if they were the people who won the lotto. After their answer, the people would snicker as if they had just met someone completely stuck up. My friend didn't want this, she wanted to be remembered for all of the people she had helped and the good things she had done. Now years after, things have settled down and rude people have begun to leave them alone. She still continues to stick to her plan and help others. The cat rescue is fairly large now and she is placing friendly kittens into the good homes they deserve. It takes a lot to defeat the greed but someone so whole hearted like her, has no problem.

No matter what shape, size, or color, anyone is welcome into her home. She will take care of anyone or anything that needs a helping hand. Character traits like these are hard to find in a person. Finding these before and after an event so significant as winning the lotto is a gift. I feel so lucky to have met such nice people. Anyone who has had the time to get to know this amazing family will remember each and every one of them as true kind people. Their character will overwhelm their association with the lotto and it will be placed in the back of peoples' minds and relatively forgotten about.