Dear Mr. Yoused,
No disrespect, just the common concerns of a local civilian...
You said you wouldn’t change. You said that wouldn’t matter. You said life and love was the best gift one could receive. You said you would make our town a better place. What happened?
Sincerely,
Anonymous submission from a local townsmen
P.s. I hope to see your explanation.
Upon receiving this letter via email, I locked my eyes on the computer screen in which I had constantly used to manipulate others into believing my words. Would I continue to live out a lie…
Ironically, one day at a town board meeting, a question had arisen based off the spreading excitement of the new drawing from the New York Lottery.
Would you change if you won the lottery?
As president of the town board, I had the chance to publicly respond to this question after being asked at the meeting.
I stated, “As it is commonly argued that money can’t buy eternal happiness, I believe if given a large amount of money, my focus would not be directed towards unnecessary items beneficial to myself, but my money would be used towards the hopes to benefit others and our town.” I grinned due to the triumph my words had on my reputation. I was “The best town representative DEERG (Downtown East Elkwood-Redpine-Greedwich) had seen. Our town had been known for its astonishing long name, and the bond shared between all community members of DEERG.
Anyways, what I had assumed provoked the anonymous writer to send me that email was the large amount of money I had recently gained. The 5012 New York Lottery Draw, or one must admit, the luckiest day of my life.
“And the winner of year 5012’s New York Lottery with the winning price reaching up to a sum of 2 million dollars is combination t3b15o,” spoke news broadcaster Larry Greens. Although I was not watching the televised draw, later that night when I had returned home from work along with a town board meeting, I saw the news ranting about an unclaimed winning lottery combination. They read the sequence again and that's when my wife ran into the room after hearing a murderous scream. The scream echoed off the walls and felt as though it had shook the house.
“Are you okay” she ran in screaming. “What’s the matter?”
“Look,” my eyes widened while preparing to show her the lottery ticket in my hand. We then lay on the floor staring at the shimmering lottery ticket... two million dollars.
That was approximately two years ago. 722 days later, and nobody foreshadowed how my life would drastically change; how everything would have changed.
I started off by upgrading simple things within my home and hiring somebody to better our landscaping. I set aside some money for our two year old daughters college fund, and left with a surplus amount of cash, I had room to buy more things. At the time, I guess I believed that these things I was spending money on were necessities. I believed that I was not spending money just because I could. Beliefs are ever so different from reality, it’s just sad most realize this too late…
I built the town a new library, bought computers for the schools, redid the high school gymnasium, bought a beautiful car, and doubled the size of my home. All of which I didn’t think anybody would have a problem with, and they didn’t. My imperious position within the town had given me the power to rule, as ludicrous as it sounds,  that any houses damaging to the image of DEERG must be renovated (or at least the external part). I don’t know what I was thinking, I guess I just got sick of looking at all these decaying houses. My wife and I had received a lot of hate for this declaration, and vowed to stay off of the public streets for the time being. Anybody living in DEERG would confidently state that no citizen has ever felt the need to hide within the walls of their home, until I came along. Although I gained much through that lottery ticket, I also lost so much more through its existence. I lost the respect of my wife and all of DEERG. I was not re-elected for the town board, and I only saw my daughter on the weekends. I continued in being the quiet whisper spreading throughout the town like a deadly virus.
Now, I began to respond to the email...
Dear Anonymous writer,
It is true, my past virtues are not the same as my current ones. I realize now that my approach to better the town may have been taken too far…
No ,no, no
Scratch that…
Dear Anonymous writer,
We all hope to be the hero in a building fire. We all imagine ourselves doing the impossible. We all imagine ourselves exceeding expectations and thriving in the views of others. While it does seem I have lost myself through the past two years, I realize now my decisions and life choices must make a steep turn towards the right direction. As i’m sure the town has been affected by my choices when I played the role of town representative, I truly believe I have lost or been affected by my actions the most. I lost the respect of everyone, including you. My wife’s face used to brighten when I entered the room. Upon winning the lottery and changing, she no longer shared the same love for me, because honestly, the man she once loved was not only 2 million dollars richer, but was no longer there. I am ashamed in saying this, and long for our relationship to mend. Reality can not closely be related to beliefs… I once believed money would not change me. I was wrong. Love is the best gift one could receive, god, I hope people realize this before it is to late for them too. I’m sorry for any pain or stress I have caused you, but you have no right to judge me, for I already judge myself enough. I wish you the best in the future.
Sincerely,
Matthew Yoused
Sent.
I wish I hadn’t changed. I wish I hadn’t won the lottery. I can’t change the past, but I can change the future…
I am no longer the rich man with the big house and a broken family. I live in an apartment right off of central New York where I work from home as a lawyer. I donated my remaining money from the lottery to St. Jude Children’s hospital where my daughter (5 years old) receives treatment for stage three lymphoma. My wife and I have fixed our issues and are closer than ever. I depend on her love through these tough nights helping my daughter fight cancer as i’m sure she relies on me as well.
Money can’t buy happiness. Family can.
I later discovered the anonymous writer was my wife... My wife, Joy Yoused, opened my eyes towards a world which did not revolve around money. For that, I can not be more thankful for…