In the past month, America experienced something great. It was a time of hope for everyone. No one had ever dreamed of something so amazing. Achieving the American dream was missing just one thing—the Powerball worth 1.3 billion dollars.

Everyone was happy. There was finally something for Americans to live for. Sure, there was the final season of American Idol, but this was something much bigger. Bigger than DJ Khaled’s growing fan base on Snapchat and even bigger than Kim Kardashian’s…ego. The hype was real, up until the winners were announced. Then the salt was real.

Sure, everyone was mad they didn’t win, but everyone bought the ticket knowing there was basically no chance of winning. I personally was extremely salty when I found out that the Citgo 1.7 miles away from my house had the one million dollar ticket. According to USA Today, the chances of winning were 1 in 292.2 million. There was more of a possibility of getting bitten by a shark or getting struck by lightning. Through this event, it’s evident to see that money has grown to be a top priority in our life.

First off, 1.3 billion dollars is a lot. I get that. But now if we see 100 million on the Powerball billboard, all we think is, “Eh, that’s not that much,” Bruh, what are we doing? I would pay $99 dollars to win a lottery worth $100. In many times of our lives, we often forget how fortunate we are. One dollar to us can seem so little, but in other places people are working vigorously just to earn that much daily.

As we grow up, society makes it feel as if money is the priority over our interests; at the same time, we feel getting a standard job with good pay is better than a lower-paying job that you truly like. It’s sad that we think like that, even as we’ve grown up hearing our parents tell us to follow our dreams.

But in this day and age, it seems that reality hits earlier than before. Our childhood is arguably the most important time of our lives because that’s when we find ourselves, the time where we discover what we like. As children, we could enjoy playing sports and desire to become an athlete. However, if reality hits us during our childhood, we’ll all end up having boring jobs with boring lives.

With 1.3 billion dollars, the opportunities are endless. You basically have enough money to not work and live a successful life. But what does successful mean? You could use that money to help others and make a difference, or you could binge watch Grey’s Anatomy from your 100 inch T.V. 10 hours a day. Money is a dangerous thing and can lead to dreadful things. All we hear about from these winners are how they went in debt for gambling all their money away. They have selfish desires, and they end up losing it all. It’s scary to think that we would possibly do the same.

So maybe it was better that we didn’t win that money. Who knows how you would have spent it. Maybe you would go bankrupt after throwing it all away on gambling and an unlimited supply of Taco Bell. That would only lead to depression and have you feeling worse than you did before winning. So let’s celebrate that we didn’t win—we’re much better without it.

But who am I kidding? I would much rather be driving to school in a Lamborghini with some fresh Yeezys than walking to school with some Skechers that don’t even light up.