It’s good news for a British couple who won over £40million on the lottery, but I wonder about how it will change their lives. Will the change really be for the better (no pun intended)?
I have read, at various times, how big winners have vowed that their new riches shall not make them wasteful or greedy. They promise that they will continue to live in their modest house, keep working as usual, take normal holidays and, at most, indulge themselves in a few of life’s little luxuries. All very well and good, we might think. But it does disturb me that a wealthy person should hold his old job, which he no longer needs to maintain himself and his family, rather than resign it and give another person the chance to earn an honest living. Likewise, isn’t it a little selfish to keep the old terraced house, when they could so easily make it available to a young couple who really need it?
Thoughts like these were going through my mind as I read a charming book about a 19thC parson. He was not a wealthy man ; but he did know that, one day, he would inherit £2700 – not a great fortune even in those days ; but certainly enough to remove any acute financial anxieties he otherwise might have had.
As a curate, he was keen to have his own parish ; to be his own boss, as it were. But the parish he greatly wished for – and which he might have successfully applied for – was beyond his means. He had noticed how the run-down vicarage was constantly being fixed by carpenters, masons, tilers and so forth. And the poor parson must have been at his wit’s end to keep the place habitable.
So the curate gave up on that idea. He resigned his curacy (as his time was up) and lived at his parents’ expense while awaiting a new opportunity.
Well, the question arises, “What should the child of wealthy parents do to occupy his time?” He would not have thought of taking a job, and thereby deprive a poor man of the chance of making a living. He would not go into trade, for the same reason. He might applied for another curacy ; but that would have deprived a promising newcomer.
So, he did the decent thing. He simply made himself useful to other parishes, as well as his old one. He was greatly respected and had many friends among both rich and poor alike. He had saved lives, he had helped farmers with their labours, he had dug the gardens of poor widows, and he had given hope to many. And he never took a shilling.
Perhaps the curate had read some of William Cobbett, who was a farmer, “Money,” he said, “Is like muck – no good unless it be spread.” So the wealthy have a duty to spread their money ; to spend it wisely and to invest it honestly.
We might add that time also is for spreading ; for giving in charity ; for receiving with gratitude.
I don’t know what the lucky couple, who won the jackpot, will do with the aid of their fortune. But I hope they don’t do anything vain, like hang on to their old jobs, their old house and their old habits.
