I bought a lottery ticket. I hope to win. That would be so cool, wouldn’t it?

Do I think I’ll win? No. I fully understand the odds are against me. Then why did I buy one? I bought it because I’ve been thinking about hope and whether or not it is a powerful motivator.

I recall my friend Brian, who also understands the odds, justifying his weekly purchase of a lottery ticket with this statement, “God can’t let you win unless you buy at least one.” Brian was full of hope.

Buying a lottery ticket perfectly illustrates our feeling of hope. Once you’ve bought one, and before the drawing of the winning numbers, you can dream of all the things you’ll buy, and all the ways your life will be improved by several million dollars. It’s fun to dream, and hope makes us feel better. But does it improve our lives?

Some of the wisest people who have lived do not think so. Benjamin Franklin said, “He that lives upon hope will die fasting.” Friedrich Nietzsche laments, “Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.” And, Aristotle observed, “Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.”

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