The lottery recently reached the size equitable to the GDP of small countries. So we played the game. You did it too. We played the ‘what would you do with all the money’ game. Everybody I talked to played that game whether they threw $2 bucks down at the QuickTrip or not.

I spoke with a colleague in the hallway and played this game with him: what would you do? His response was fairly predictable to a point. He’d pay off houses, clean up some debt, pay for kids’ school, give some to charity, etc. Step two included that dream vacation and the car, but then came Step 3: say thanks. He’d go back to Coach Jones who taught him discipline and Mrs. Smith who told him that he was smart. He’d thank the neighbor’s kid that stood up for him on the playground when the fat kid got pushy. He’d thank them all with gifts of money. Perhaps lots of it.

Then he was honest: ‘the reality is I haven’t talked to some of these people in 20 years. And come to think of it, I don’t need to write a check in order to write a note.’

He was right. Saying thanks costs $1.27 including the stamp if you buy pretty stationary. Otherwise, it’s free. And yet, we were waiting on hundreds of millions to do so? Seems off doesn’t it. We need to make $1.6 Billion in order to pay $1.27?

The more people I played this game with, the more predictable the pattern became: pay off my debt, take care of ‘Mama-n-‘em', give it away to charities I like, say thanks. That took maybe $10 Million in my mental calculus. What about the other $1.59 Billion?

We played. I threw $2 bucks down on a chance to dream. I know the odds, but it was worth it to me at the time.

Then I threw down another $2 for a stamp and fancy stationary.  Thanks, Mrs. Jane.