Lucre: Happiness?
There is the recently-published story of a young, reclusive Brit, Stuart Donnelly, 17 when he celebrated winning three million dollars in a lottery. Prior to his win the young man was a trainee pharmacist. With his winnings he bought a house for his mother who was estranged from his father. He gave a sizeable sum of money to a Glasgow hospital where his younger brother was being treated for a genetic disorder.
And he bought a house in the countryside, not far from where he had been born. He lived in that house with his father, who suffered from the effects of having contracted poliomyelitis. He looked after his father assiduously. Doing his utmost all the while to maintain a distance from strangers who importuned him, as the recipient through good fortune, of a good fortune.
"It was very hard to deal with all the attention I got. I even had people camping outside my house. It put a huge strain on me and my family", he said in an interview. His unearned wealth earned him the resolute determination to seal himself away from the public. And he spent his time "sleeping, watching TV, listening to music, surfing the Net. Basically anything that involves not leaving the house." In a sense, a life not all that much different from many people who for other causes choose to opt out of a public life.
His father died of a heart attack in 1999, a mere two years after his generous son's win. With no one left to share life with, he hardly bothered to respond even when his mother telephoned: "I phone him, but most times I get his answer phone", she said. Now she won't even get that. He was discovered to have died, age 29, alone in his house, after being checked on by a relative.
His story is not as rare as one might think. It is no urban legend that people who come into great sums of money hardly know what to do with it, burning through the acquired wealth, and in the end, left destitute. As happened with a New York man who won $5-million in 1981 and spent it on a luxury condo, vacations and a series of marriages. And now he lives in a mobile home on a small pension and social security.
Like a man from East Anglia who won $16.9-million in a lottery which enabled him to leave his job as a 'garbage collector, in 2002. It took him all of a year and a half to pour that wealth into houses, drugs, demolition derby car races (in his own back garden), and jewellery. Alienating his neighbours in the process. After which he spent time in jail for petty crime.
There are, of course, quite a number of such sad stories; people overwhelmed by what they believe at first to be good fortune - found money! - unable to deal with their winnings, finding their lives turned upside down. And in the final analysis, finding themselves estranged from the world they had known before their wins; down and out of luck.
And then there are others, people who have inherited or earned their millions, intent on keeping it all, unwilling to part with any of it for any reason, good or otherwise. Resorting to under-handed and illegal and socially uncouth tactics to ensure that no portion of their wealth is removed from them.
Like the 53-year-old Swiss multi-millionaire who racked up a string of convictions driving his red Ferrari Testarossa at high speed through residential areas. He had originally been fined $90,100 for his illegal indiscretions, but claiming he was a diplomat from Guinea-Bissau, insisted that the fine be withdrawn due to diplomatic immunity.
Unfortunately for him, it was discovered that the man held a personal fortune of over $20-million, was no diplomat, owned a multi-million-dollar mansion, a luxe apartment, and five rather costly vehicles. Judges near Zurich levied a fine of $299,000 on the man. Representing just desserts.
And then there is the instance of Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson, living a celebrity-sleaze life along with the ilk of Paris Hilton, addicted to drugs and alcohol, whose mother restricted her access to the family fortune, and removed her baby daughter from her care, claiming her to be 'too crazy' to care for the adopted child. The 30-year-old woman was found dead three days ago, from 'natural causes'.
Now, is everyone happy!?
And he bought a house in the countryside, not far from where he had been born. He lived in that house with his father, who suffered from the effects of having contracted poliomyelitis. He looked after his father assiduously. Doing his utmost all the while to maintain a distance from strangers who importuned him, as the recipient through good fortune, of a good fortune.
"It was very hard to deal with all the attention I got. I even had people camping outside my house. It put a huge strain on me and my family", he said in an interview. His unearned wealth earned him the resolute determination to seal himself away from the public. And he spent his time "sleeping, watching TV, listening to music, surfing the Net. Basically anything that involves not leaving the house." In a sense, a life not all that much different from many people who for other causes choose to opt out of a public life.
His father died of a heart attack in 1999, a mere two years after his generous son's win. With no one left to share life with, he hardly bothered to respond even when his mother telephoned: "I phone him, but most times I get his answer phone", she said. Now she won't even get that. He was discovered to have died, age 29, alone in his house, after being checked on by a relative.
His story is not as rare as one might think. It is no urban legend that people who come into great sums of money hardly know what to do with it, burning through the acquired wealth, and in the end, left destitute. As happened with a New York man who won $5-million in 1981 and spent it on a luxury condo, vacations and a series of marriages. And now he lives in a mobile home on a small pension and social security.
Like a man from East Anglia who won $16.9-million in a lottery which enabled him to leave his job as a 'garbage collector, in 2002. It took him all of a year and a half to pour that wealth into houses, drugs, demolition derby car races (in his own back garden), and jewellery. Alienating his neighbours in the process. After which he spent time in jail for petty crime.
There are, of course, quite a number of such sad stories; people overwhelmed by what they believe at first to be good fortune - found money! - unable to deal with their winnings, finding their lives turned upside down. And in the final analysis, finding themselves estranged from the world they had known before their wins; down and out of luck.
And then there are others, people who have inherited or earned their millions, intent on keeping it all, unwilling to part with any of it for any reason, good or otherwise. Resorting to under-handed and illegal and socially uncouth tactics to ensure that no portion of their wealth is removed from them.
Like the 53-year-old Swiss multi-millionaire who racked up a string of convictions driving his red Ferrari Testarossa at high speed through residential areas. He had originally been fined $90,100 for his illegal indiscretions, but claiming he was a diplomat from Guinea-Bissau, insisted that the fine be withdrawn due to diplomatic immunity.
Unfortunately for him, it was discovered that the man held a personal fortune of over $20-million, was no diplomat, owned a multi-million-dollar mansion, a luxe apartment, and five rather costly vehicles. Judges near Zurich levied a fine of $299,000 on the man. Representing just desserts.
And then there is the instance of Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson, living a celebrity-sleaze life along with the ilk of Paris Hilton, addicted to drugs and alcohol, whose mother restricted her access to the family fortune, and removed her baby daughter from her care, claiming her to be 'too crazy' to care for the adopted child. The 30-year-old woman was found dead three days ago, from 'natural causes'.
Now, is everyone happy!?
Labels: societal failures
posted by Pieface @ 5:54 PM
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