Suppose

Suppose we learned an asteroid is out there with our name on it; a big one, a very big one. Even the survivalists are saying, "Might as well sit on a deck chair in your backyard with a tall cool lemonade and enjoy the show, 'cause Jesus is going to come and say, 'th-th-that's all folks.' Ain't no hiding place this time."

I wonder what we would do. Pack churches? Riot in the streets and steal things? Camp peacefully in the woods? Let our morals loose (to put it discreetly)? We'll never know unless and until it actually happens; we can guess, we can give our opinions but, it's not until that growing spot appears in the sky that we really know how we will act.

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Suppose we won a real big lottery, lots of millions of dollars after taxes. What would that do to us? There was a show on early tv, "The Millionaire," in which a couple would, out of the blue, receive a million dollars, tax-paid. The program was about what it did to them; an interesting study. If we received the equivalent in today's dollars, it would be equally fascinating to see how people react. The New York Times magazine section followed several lottery winners; a number went broke, a few did well and I think most of them pretty much felt the whole thing was something they would not want to do again.

Their plans, in theory, seldom worked out in reality. Everybody, from their pastor to the beggar on the street, felt they had claim to this windfall. It wasn't fun anymore.

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Suppose we could have anything we wanted, but each time we had to give up something we already had. Would that make us choose more carefully? Maybe we would cut down on our "wants" when we knew a previous "want" would disappear, without our choice of which one. How badly do we really need this or that item?

Suppose.