I sit here thinking. So many people are playing the lottery every day wishing for millions of dollars to change their lives. Years ago I read or saw a show on many of these winners whose lives were changed for the worse after winning all that money. It makes you think. Maybe money is the root of all evil. How many celebrities have died because they had the money to buy themselves small planes to fly and then crashed? And what brings all this back to mind is this Lori Loughlin scandal and everything about it.
Here is a couple, Lori and her husband, who had more money than they could ever spend. Beautiful homes. Two very beautiful girls. Everything you could ever want in life and then some. But, at the end of the day, all that wasn't enough. They didn't teach their children to have a strong work ethic because, hey, money is pouring in and they didn't need to work hard in school to secure a good future for themselves like most kids with working parents. The girls knew they would always be taken care of and could basically live without a care in the world or follow their dreams to the ends of the earth. But, Lori and her husband had their own dreams for the girls. They would have both money and a college education at USC. No other college would do. So they used what they had . . . money . . . to "help" get their girls into a dream school and ultimately get the college degree that neither of the parents had. The 500K was just a drop in the bucket for them. They never considered the consequences or the moral and ethical lessons they were modeling for their children. And now, thanks to their lack of integrity, honesty and morals BUT plenty of money, they have turned all their lives upside down. The girls will not get the college education the parents dreamed of for them, instead they face worldwide disgrace and embarrassment. One girl lost her dream job as a social media influencer. Instead, she gets hate tweets and backlash for the actions of her parents and loses her sponsors, followers and money. Lori lost her job which kept her in the limelight in a favorable way. Yes, she is still in the limelight, but as the face of the largest college admissions scandal and looking at some serious prison time. Not a good look. And ironically, instead of helping her children, she ended up hurting them more than anyone else ever did.
Lori claims to have a strong religious faith, but somehow her religious beliefs didn't stop her from doing any number of illegal things necessary to commit these crimes. How does she reconcile her religious beliefs which are grounded in morality and her own actions? It's beyond me. There has to be at least a couple of commandments broken in all this.
Lori says God will get her through this, she did nothing any other parent wouldn't have done, she had good intentions and the judge will see that, and she is convinced she did nothing wrong. So instead of taking a plea, admitting guilt (for which there is plenty of evidence), apologizing and getting 6 months prison time, she and her husband now face a possible 40 years prison time. All of this thanks to their money and sense of entitlement. It really blows my mind that you could have everything you want in life AND peace of mind, and throw it all away. How can anyone do something so stupid and lose what's most important?
Maybe this is why I don't run out and play the mega lottery. We all think our lives would change for the better, but we can never know what twists and turns and temptations would be waiting for us if we were suddenly rich. I know, I can hear everyone saying it won't happen to me or they would take the risk if they could just win millions. I don't know. I always remember hearing, "as long as you have your health, you have everything." For my part, I am happy without hitting the lottery. We worked hard for all we have and we raised our girls to have a strong work ethic and good values. We are blessed and thankful . . . and we can sleep good at night.
