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Feature Article June 19

Feature Article June 19, 2002

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Hopes, Dreams, Reality I had a spare moment in the mall while waiting for my Significant Helpmate to fulfill her need to line our nest with even more baubles, a spring ritual pursued by the females of many species. I watched and mused about the activity around the lottery kiosk, an area that never seems to lack customers. A thin and rather raggedly dressed woman stood at the counter, with a small child clutching her dress with one hand while the other smeared chocolate from a melting ice cream cone over most of her face. The child was oblivious to the activity at the counter, and the mother just as oblivious to the ice cream smearing face and dress. It would have been an interesting situation if the mother had not been so obsessed with comparing her numbers to those posted on a bulletin board. I edged closer, pretending to read some government propaganda extolling life's pleasures after winning The Million.I saw her eyes light up and heard her mutter about a free ticket; then with a shrug she tore up the remaining ones and dropped the pieces. Collecting her free ticket and relinquishing a handful of loonies for more, she left, dragging the child, who was now sobbing over the dropped cone melting among her mother's scattered hopes on the floor. They were out of sight before the mother discovered the ice cream fiasco, and another dreamer took her place at the kiosk counter. I didn't follow, but I could well imagine the scene between the two - a mother so preoccupied with an expectation of a free ride through life, and a child neglected while she blindly pursued that dream. A variety of others assumed her place at the counter - some with a buck and a whim, smiling with the hope of a fulfilled dream, but others far too seriously putting out hard-earned cash, and superstitiously marking numbers they thought would magically transform their lives. The addicted ones set me musing. All of us need hope and a dream of success, but it is unfortunate that so many have to resort to such a precarious way of finding it. Less than half of the sales of most Canadian lottery tickets are returned as prize money. The rest, after administrative costs, go to the government as a tax on the stupid - as some have labeled it. I understand that it would be impossible for governments to give up income from lotteries and legal gambling without significantly raising other forms of taxation. Odds of winning first prize in Lotto 649 are a shade under 1 in 14 million. It seems to me that there should be better ways to raise our hopes and fulfill our dreams than by encouraging a gambling addiction.

Can our politicians not be more creative in raising cash, or better still, more creative in carefully spending what they have raised? Wouldn't Canada be a wonderful country if we had our hopes fulfilled just because we lived here? If we all contribute what we are able, whether it is manual work or mental inspiration, produce an honest day's effort for an honest day's wage, and didn't demand more than we needed for a reasonable life, would we need the nebulous dream of winning the lottery? Isn't it up to our elected representatives to create this atmosphere of hope, rather than turning so many of us into gamblers looking for something for nothing? S.H. returned happy with her baubles and we headed for home, but the line at the kiosk continued to grow!

With the participation of the Government of Canada