[ WP ] A bum finds a lottery ticket that wins him the $ 400,000,000 jackpot . Tell the story of his rise to his fall back to the streets .

Do you know why “ The Count of Monte Cristo ” is such a popular story to this day? I ’ ll tell you why. It ’ s the ultimate fantasy. A man comes by an immense amount of treasure through no real merit of his own and then becomes richer than God. Then using his new found riches, he goes on a revenge spree against all those who wronged him all the while overpaying for all the best things the world has to offer. 
 
 
 What no one likes to talk about is that the book ’ s author, Alexandre Dumas, who at one point was one of the richest men in France, died penniless as he tried to live his life like his character, Edmond Dantes. 
 
 
 The fact of the matter is that people are free to avoid reality, but no one can avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. 
 
 
 And that is a lesson that Al learned far too late. 
 
 
 He wasn ’ t born in the streets. Like everyone here, he once had parents. And a home. No, he wasn ’ t born to a king in a castle in some magical kingdom. His father was a traveling salesman and his mother was a seamstress. He wasn ’ t born rich, but he had a home. 
 
 
 Like so many other kids in the wold, Al liked to imagine being rich. He spent many days and nights imagining the kind of house he would live in, the car he would drive, the parties that he would throw for his friends. He would love everyone and everyone would love him. 
 
 
 But that was all that he did. He imagined being rich. But he never did anything to become rich. He never paid attention in school. In fact, he always thought that being in school was a waste of time. The kicker was that he wasn ’ t even brave enough to start his own lemonade stand for fear of losing money. 
 
 
 “ What if some thug comes by and asks me for protection money? ” 
 
 
 “ What if some of the girls see me and they laugh at me because they think I ’ m being foolish? ” 
 
 
 “ What if my idea doesn ’ t succeed? I can ’ t bear failure. ” 
 
 
 With one excuse after another, his cowardice never let him do anything before he grew too skinny and bald after having partied with hard drugs and cheap booze a few too many times. His needles and bottles were his best friends. They let him live in the palaces in his mind. He avoided reality, but reality never avoided him. 
 
 
 Living on the streets was tough. But even years after living on the streets, he never forgot his dream about being the next Donald Trump. 
 
 
 Every day he bought himself a lottery ticket and he always bought the same numbers. He told everyone that he saw these numbers in a dream when he was a kid and that some voice told him that these numbers are very important. No one paid any attention to him. 
 
 
 But everyone paid a lot of attention to him when those numbers led him to win four hundred million dollars! 
 
 
 Suddenly, everyone loved Al. He discovered that he had relatives that he had never heard of. Friends who had turned their backs on him years ago came back with smiles on their faces and women had nothing but sweet little nothings to whisper into his ear. Even charities came a-callin ’ asking for donations for the poor. 
 
 
 “ You lived on the streets, too. So you must understand their plight! ” came the letters and phone calls. 
 
 
 “ Al, buddy, you look amazing! How have you been? I always knew you were going to make it, kiddo! ” claimed his friends. 
 
 
 “ Do you remember me, Al? Oh, of course you don ’ t. You were just a boy when we last met. I ’ m your great-aunt Millie. My, how you ’ ve grown. ” 
 
 
 “ I do love bald men. I think that is so sexy, ” moaned the women. 
 
 
 Al didn ’ t hold any grudges. And he was finally free of fear. No one was going to laugh at him. His dream wasn ’ t going to fail. No gang member was going to harass him now. He was on first name basis with the city ’ s mayor! 
 
 
 And he bought himself a car. A fleet of cars actually. And how beautiful they were. All polish and chrome. He had cars that would have made Rockefeller blush. And his house! Not even Orson Welles could have imagined Xanadu to look like Al ’ s house. 
 
 
 His ultimate prize, however, was his wife. She had curves in all the right places, and her smile could destroy empires. Everyone knew that she married Al for his money. There was no way in hell that a woman like her would ever even give a man like Al a second look if he weren ’ t as rich as he had become. I suspect that Al knew that much, too. But I don ’ t think he cared all that much. 
 
 
 All the while, though Al grew richer, he himself never changed. 
 
 
 “ Why should I invest my money? That ’ s what I have accountants for. Let them do the thinking for me. I just want to party! ” 
 
 
 “ I have four hundred million dollars! I will never be poor again! ” 
 
 
 “ If I let my friends keep partying, they will always love me. ” 
 
 
 “ No girl will ever laugh at me now. Look at my wife! ” 
 
 
 He was living his dream. Why should he care? The party was never going to stop! 
 
 
 But the party did stop. 
 
 
 His wife went on spending sprees that would have made the Sultan of Brunei wonder if she was spending her money too prodigiously. She has since divorced Al and last I heard, she got married to some Hollywood producer. His friends and family gorged on his food and drink like they were partaking in a Roman orgy. His crooked accountants and lawyers made themselves fat at his expense. Worst of all, the Taxman came a-knockin ’. 
 
 
 In less than three years, Al lost everything and he came back to the streets. He doesn ’ t talk to anyone anymore. I think he still likes to dream about being rich. 
 
 
 Now, there ’ s a second part to this story. If you look over at that house right across from the house where Al lived, there ’ s another mansion. The guy who owns that place is called Henry Bloom. Now that man is filthy rich. He was also born rich. Silver spoon in his mouth and everything. And chances are that he will stay rich and die rich. 
 
 
 So why did I bring that up? I brought it up to highlight that life is not fair. 
 
 
 Everyone loves a story about an underdog making it big and a rich man getting what ’ s coming to him. This is not that kind of story. 
 
 
 Henry Bloom was rich the day he was born; just like his father. His grandfather did all the work of starting up an incredibly successful business. So, a lot of people think that Henry Bloom did not earn his wealth. So, he doesn ’ t deserve it either. 
 
 
 But here ’ s the thing that people don ’ t often consider. Getting rich isn ’ t as hard as people think. All you need is luck, a lot of hard work, and a really good idea. Being born rich is even easier. All you need to do is to be born. But staying rich. Now that ’ s tricky. 
 
 
 And Henry Bloom stayed rich. And do you know how? He was brave. He never let fear get in the way. 
 
 
 “ So what if I fail? I will simply try again. ” 
 
 
 “ So what if people laugh at me? I will do what pleases me! ” 
 
 
 “ So what if I have lawyers and accountants? I don ’ t trust them to look out for my interests. I have to do my own thinking. A man who doesn ’ t think might as well be a zombie. ” 
 
 
 “ I want to stay rich. What are the things that I must do to stay rich? ” 
 
 
 The moral of the story as has already been stated twice. People are free to avoid reality, but no one can avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.
