A Different Lottery
Another year, another Christmas lottery. Yesterday morning the house was filled with the sing-song voices of the children of San Ildefonso School chanting the numbers and their prizes on the televised, hours-long extraction. That lottery marks the official beginning of winter and the social beginning (lights and commercialism notwithstanding) of Christmas. After it was over, news vans travelled all over Spain, interviewing winners and losers. (We're neither - nor this year, we recuperated all the money we spent - not much.) Winners shouted out a hundred and one ways to spend the money (€320,000 after taxes), and the losers lamented their luck.
Among most people, the Christmas lottery day is the day of health. Because the optimists among those who don't win anything tend to say, "Well, at least we have our health." But we losers have so much more than that. I saw a meme this morning that reminded me that we did win the lottery.
We've won the lottery of luck. We have not had to leave our house running to escape bombs. We have not had to abandon all we have to be able to survive. We have not had to march for weeks with nowhere to rest. We have not had to pray for a crust of bread nor a sip of water. We have not had to fight unscrupulous people who would take our money and abandon us in a desert. We have not had to board ailing boats to escape war. We have not had to tread water in the uncaring sea to escape drowning. We have not had to face hard searchlights nor faces that didn't want to find us. We have not had to face a populace that fears us because we don't look the same. We have not had to encounter fear and anger because we find a job that only lets us keep body and soul together.
So, on this day-after-the-Christmas-lottery-madness, we have more to be thankful for than simply our health. Because even those among us who don't enjoy wonderful health have the right to see a doctor and get it fixed. Most of us lead good lives, even if not all are filled with money. Even those who lack it can find something good in their lives, something their grandparents or great-grandparents didn't have. Because not so long ago, even though eighty years to some is an eternity, Spaniards considered themselves to have won the lottery if the fighting left their town alone, and they could find enough food to live. We have peace.
So, when we lament not having won money to change the ailing car, or to make that dream trip abroad, we should look around and back, and understand that our situation in time and place is a lottery of sorts that we have already won.
Among most people, the Christmas lottery day is the day of health. Because the optimists among those who don't win anything tend to say, "Well, at least we have our health." But we losers have so much more than that. I saw a meme this morning that reminded me that we did win the lottery.
We've won the lottery of luck. We have not had to leave our house running to escape bombs. We have not had to abandon all we have to be able to survive. We have not had to march for weeks with nowhere to rest. We have not had to pray for a crust of bread nor a sip of water. We have not had to fight unscrupulous people who would take our money and abandon us in a desert. We have not had to board ailing boats to escape war. We have not had to tread water in the uncaring sea to escape drowning. We have not had to face hard searchlights nor faces that didn't want to find us. We have not had to face a populace that fears us because we don't look the same. We have not had to encounter fear and anger because we find a job that only lets us keep body and soul together.
So, on this day-after-the-Christmas-lottery-madness, we have more to be thankful for than simply our health. Because even those among us who don't enjoy wonderful health have the right to see a doctor and get it fixed. Most of us lead good lives, even if not all are filled with money. Even those who lack it can find something good in their lives, something their grandparents or great-grandparents didn't have. Because not so long ago, even though eighty years to some is an eternity, Spaniards considered themselves to have won the lottery if the fighting left their town alone, and they could find enough food to live. We have peace.
So, when we lament not having won money to change the ailing car, or to make that dream trip abroad, we should look around and back, and understand that our situation in time and place is a lottery of sorts that we have already won.
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