Plenty of people make a statement with money.
For some, swimming in cash is fun — they spend it on themselves, building mansions, driving Ferraris, buying jewelry, living the high life.
For others, money is power — they leverage it to build commercial empires or to finance campaigns for high office.
Then there are those for whom money spells opportunity — to fulfil a personal dream like blasting off into orbit and clowning around with the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Quebec billionaire and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte paid $35 million for that dubious privilege last year.
But there is no statement more powerful than giving 98 per cent of it away.
After winning $11.2 million in the lottery last summer, Allen and Violet Large of Lower Truro, N.S., could have lived large for the remainder of their years on Earth. You can bet your bottom dollar that 98 per cent of people would have done just that — whether or not they were in their 70s like the Larges.
But instead, after taking care of family, the retired couple have lavished the rest of their vast fortune on a laundry list of charities. They are staying in their old, but comfortable home and going about their normal lives, which have been disrupted for months by Violet Large’s bout with cancer.
Their gesture made headlines around the world. Clearly, people are both impressed and intrigued by this story.
Given half a chance, most folks are generous, but not to a fault, and they cannot fathom letting that much money slip through their fingers.
Others wonder why the couple bought lottery tickets in the first place.
They did it for fun. They had no real desire to strike it rich and no gumption to deal with the hassles and crooks that their newfound fortune would inevitably attract.
Then again, perhaps the Larges are wise enough to know that the true value of money lies in what you do with it. With their winnings, they have made winners of many people who weren’t as fortunate as they, but are just as deserving.
Luck need not be blind — what a powerful statement they have made.
An editorial from the Halifax Chronicle Herald