Lottery

“I had so many plans for my life…”

I’ll never forget the look on my baby’s face when he uttered those words, his number coming up in the lottery, hitting the jackpot to fight someone else’s war.

Opening phrase from Dr H’s Two Phrase Story #40. Follow the link and give it a go, inspiration will strike!

14 thoughts on “Lottery”

    1. Thanks SB 🙂

      We recently had ANZAC day here, and while I shy away from the hero culture and patriotism surrounding those kind of commemorations, I always feel sad for those who lived in a time when joining the army wasn’t a choice. If that ever happened to my baby, I’d be the first to drop the bomb on whoever messed with his plans.

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      2. I realised after replying that although I didn’t mean it literally, what I said (about bombing whoever messed with my baby’s plans) is exactly the mentality that causes wars- there is always a justification and reasoning about some kind of boundary that has been crossed. I’d hope that if there ever was conscription in my son’s lifetime, I will have raised him to be a conscientious objector.

        How’s may going for you so far, after the colourful and tasty start to the month? 🙂

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      3. I completely understood what you meant to say. It’s weird how we can’t use phrases in a figurative sense without a disclaimer. May is going well so far. Busy, but I’m
        Hanging in there.

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      4. Yes, well I guess when you communicate in writing, and then mainly to people who don’t know you well, it can be open to all sorts of interpretation. Sometimes I don’t mind ambiguity and misinterpretation, but if the misinterpretation may grossly misrepresent who I am or what I value, then I will clarify.

        Glad to hear your May is going well. I hope it continues to, and that rather than just hanging in there, you grasp the month and soar to some amazing heights xx

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      6. 🙂 I’d send better emojis but I am not on my phone right now. Imagine the one with the guy with an afro dancing (which incidentally turns into a Latina doing a salsa or something when I type it into WP). Have a good week SB, if I don’t catch you before the end of it xx

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  2. My brother’s birthday was #5 in the Vietnam lottery…but he amazingly didn’t pass the army physical because he is basically blind without his glasses. Some of his friends were not so lucky…the ones that came back were never the same. (K)

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    1. How fortunate for your Brother! Sorry to hear his friends didn’t fare too well. It is just so senseless. I think the Vietnam vets had it particularly bad because returning home they were met with the changing tide and and unwelcoming public, when fighting wasn’t even necessarily their choosing (from the very little I have read).

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      1. Yes, in those days everyone was subject to the draft, equal opportunity war (unless you were George W Bush or Dick Cheney that is…) I don’t like the volunteer army. First it’s not really “volunteer”–if you don’t have other options, it’s often where you end up. And if the middle and upper classes were forced to think about their children dying, we might not have ended up in yet another endless war.

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      2. Yes, I think the army is skewed toward attracting people with limited opportunities for education or employment without going the army route. It comes down to socio-economic background, education level of parents, and a lot of other factors about the social environment. That is an interesting point you’ve made- the powers that be don’t sacrifice their own offspring and wars are sold to those who are disengaged, by dressing it up for all sorts of reasons but the truth, which is to keep the powerful in power, and to keep the money circulating in the economy that favours the 1%. Tell the people it is about religion, freedom, their children’s futures and you fool them into fighting for you ugh. While I’m on a rant- I cannot believe we live in a world where Trump could possibly be the POTUS.

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