Materialism and the emphasis on money in today’s world
By Ann Shelley // Staff Writer
Money seems to consume most of the activities in our daily lives. Especially in this consumer world it is hard to imagine life without it. This is why when the $1.586 billion jackpot came around, many students and professors were rushing to get their chance to possibly win.
When individuals are given this massive amount of money they start to realize what their values are and what they want to help in this world. This crazy sum of money could build up so many parts of our world and really help those around us.
For example, you could run St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for two years and twenty days. Another act of good that could be done with this sum is sponsoring the creation of 15 million coats that can convert into sleeping bags for the homeless around the United States.
The benefits are endless – the money could go towards veterans, cancer research, clean water in many third world countries, animal rescue foundations, disease research and so many other important causes. These ways of spending the money could benefit our world as a whole. However, most individuals are not thinking along these lines, but rather they are thinking about all the material items they can buy with it. For instance the winner could buy outrageous items like 1.5 billion McDonalds ice cream cones or nine private islands.
Three very lucky individuals had the amazing chance to win the largest Powerball jackpot of all time on Jan. 13, 2016. Keep in mind there is a one in 292.2 million chance of winning the lottery. There were over 635 million total tickets sold. The fact that these individuals were lucky enough to win the sum of $1.5 billion is crazy. They were able to guess the winning numbers of 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10.
The winners were from Florida, Tennessee and California; these very lucky individuals now have a grand sum $500 million each before taxes. The greatest part of this whole Powerball jackpot is that each 7-eleven that the winners bought their tickets from get a $1 million bonus for selling these individuals the tickets. Tickets for this Powerball Jackpot were sold in 44 states across the U.S.
Two of the winners have not yet claimed their shares of the jackpot. If they do not claim their winnings in 180 days, in a year their prize will be donated to education programs. Both of the states of Florida and California require these individuals to be named in a news conference. Which is why if the individuals are worried about fame that comes along with this great win, they need to revaluate and claim it soon.
One of the winners, John Robinson and his wife Lisa bought four tickets at Naifeh’s Food Mart, a grocery store in Munford, Tennessee. Robinson said he bought the tickets as he always does to represent the four members of their family, with the computer choosing the winning numbers. However, his wife is planning on returning to work despite the winnings and all the hype behind it. They are not sure on what they want to do with the winnings yet. Hopefully some of these winners will think about doing good, and not just the material items that such money can buy.