UNITED STATES—Unless you’re living under a rock, you certainly know that a certain lottery drawing has hit a historic milestone. I’m talking about the Powerball Jackpot which has amounted a gargantuan $1.9 billion and is likely to strike $2 billion before the drawing takes place on Monday. I hear time and time again from so many pessimists who say, “Oh, you’ll never win.” Ok, that is fine and dandy if you believe that, but guess what don’t rain on everyone else’s parade. Let people dream because in life if you don’t at least try you’ll never know.

Hell, a ticket ONLY costs $2, and you never know you might have that lucky $2 ticket that changes your life forever. Yes, we have heard all the talk about people who hit the lottery who go crazy, disappear and have all sorts of crazy things happen to them, but crazy stuff happens in life all the time you cannot change that, and hitting the lottery might just advance the likelihood of certain events unfolding.

I’m going to share a story that might shock a few people, but it’s the truth, which makes it that much more shocking. I have a family member who hit the lottery for a massive amount of money many years ago. I’m talking about millions people. They hit the jackpot and I guess the individual being older makes a difference. It was the great uncle of my grandmother who died when I was like 8. Do I know the guy? To a degree, but we’re not super close, but he’s not a complete stranger to me either.

When I heard the news about the big win I thought nothing of it. Why? It is not my money and just because someone is family doesn’t mean they have to share the wealth. I do know he allowed his son to cash in his lottery ticket and they purchased two large homes near a massive lake that if you make one wrong move and your vehicle and your life might be toast on this winding road people. Long story short, my Great Uncle did ensure to give several thousand dollars to my mother and her siblings as he was extremely close to my grandmother, i.e., his nieces and nephews.

I hear every year around Christmas time they get a lump sum of money, what that sum details I have no idea. Long story short we got invited for this big Christmas event where everyone in the family thought something big was going to happen like we were going to get a cut of the money. It did not happen. It was more like a party to show off their luxuries which was a bit annoying if I’m being honest. People in the family made it seem as if it was an event we just HAD to go to and I would have rather been spending time with actual family members I’m close to versus ones that I don’t even know or barely speak to. The food was catered, the gift exchange game we played was trivial and I just didn’t like the idea of someone throwing their wealth in my face.

Family can be the worse when it comes to money because some will do anything to get it. Long story short, they had money and wanted everyone to know they had money. Now, what came of those family members: I could not tell you because we don’t talk, we’re not close and I felt it was just a once in a lifetime event where my Great Uncle felt he ‘needed’ to do something to show he did at least do something for his family with his winnings.

The thing about hitting the lottery is the fact that you are going to indeed change as a person. Why? You have millions or if you’re the lucky Powerball winner of a single ticket, billions of dollars at your fingertips. You will NOT be able to live a normal life anymore. You will have to go into seclusion. Everyone you know and everyone you don’t know is going to want a piece of the pie and if you are being generous, you’ll be broke before you can count to three. The thing about thoughts of winning the lottery is you get the chance to dream people and you can dream massive about the opportunities that could be at your fingertips.

Buy a mansion, a very expensive vehicle, materialistic clothing, donate to charity, make a movie, open a restaurant, start your own business, buy a yacht, buy a boat, purchase a private jet, the list goes on and on and on. Hell, you might even have enough funds to purchase a sports team if you choose to people. The key is that the thoughts of hitting the lottery allows one to dream, and the thought of having your wildest, craziest, unexpected dreams become a reality gives you a bit of hope.

With the way this economy is going, the political divide this country is enduring and so much hate and vitriol that we have, the thought of people bonding at the thought of becoming a billionaire (maybe not so true after taxes are deducted), but you significantly change your tax brackets America and that is what matters most.

Just imagine the thought of going into the supermarket and spending all the money you want on food without having to worry about how much it will cost. In this economy, I think every American needs that as a bright spot. Look at it this way, most people only play the lottery when the jackpot skyrockets to a cost unimaginable; I get it, but it would be smarter to play when things are lower because your odds of winning are way larger. However, if you don’t play you have no chance of winning. Its $2, I think you can sacrifice those 2 bucks for a ton of hopes and dreams over a Starbucks coffee, right? Anyway a single winning ticket was sold in California, so congrats to the new billionaire. It would be nice for once if the winner was NOT someone in California; it seems that state is always definitive when it comes to picking lottery winners.

Written By Jason Jones