The Truth of the Lottery

During my trip down the rabbit hole, I came across the most curious little town. At first it seemed very normal and average. Everyone had their normal lives and went about them in an old fashion way. Nothing ever seemed to changed, and they enjoyed it that way. They invited me to their own annual event, something they called ‘The Lottery’. At first I was thrilled at the idea!  I had never attended just a peculiar event before...but my eagerness and excitement were disgustingly misplaced.

When entering a different society, one should always be open minded. During this trip I had to remind myself of this. Unlike the lotteries all of you are familiar with, you know where the winner gets an amazing prize. In this town the prize isn't at all amazing, whoever ‘wins’ is stoned to death by their friends and family. No One protests, or objects, they all confirmed while I stood there in horror.

After it was all said and done these people went on with their lives. There seemed to be no mourning, and the families just went home without another word. This ‘Lottery’ easily earned a spot in my top ten oddest concepts. When the event ended I really wanted to just leave, but sometimes we have to do things that are difficult for us. I did this for you all, so that no one will hopefully ever attempt this again. So let us try and learn from these people even if its just to understand them.

Digging through dead lead after dead lead I still hunted for answers. No one could remember the purpose for this horrific game. That’s all it was to them...a children’s game. Everyone was happy as long as it wasn't them being stoned to death. Children had eagerly gathered stones, and no one ever spoke against what was happening. Mr Warner informed me that the lottery separated this town from the barbarians.

Separates them from the barbarians...I have to be honest, it made my stomach turn. Still these people lived through it every year, apparently for generations. It was embedded into their mind that this was okay. Mr. Summer’s took the time to explain to me what he knew. This tradition had a long history, and with anything historical, we knew things get changed and things fade. It’s kinda like that game you play when you’re a kid, the one where you get in a circle and whisper a word or phrase to each other then the last person says it out loud. Its usually gibberish or something of the nonsense nature. Well that’s what we have here.

Let us take a moment to look at some facts before we cast a verdict. (Remember the Queen of Hearts is the only one allowed to judge without all the facts).

1) Every year this town chooses one person to be stoned.
2) No on is upset over stoned someone, unless they are the one being stoned.
3) Only two parts about this ritual are remembered, the black box they draw from and     

the stoning. Now they use to put chips of wood to draw, but now they use paper.

4) These people are completely okay with it, they fully accept this.

I can’t say if what they are doing is right or wrong. To them it is a tradition, and traditions are something people don’t let go of easily. It’s almost like a safety net for them, once a year they have this person to take all their anger and frustration out on. Maybe in the old days this was a human sacrifice to appease the gods of old. Say their was a bad crop, well all they had to do was pick someone to kill off, and they all participate to appease this god...so no one speaks out to so they don’t see the god’s wrath. On another note, maybe this is a ritual to forgive the town of it’s sins. For those of you who remember my article on the Hunger Games I spoke about how they have a ‘reaping’. The Hunger Games were an object to instill fear into the districts to conform, claiming that the games were nothing more than a way to forgive the districts from rebelling a generation ago.

In this town these people conform in a very similar matter. They attack this person they once knew, as a neighbor, a friend, a mother, a sibling, a human being. In a split second all of that is taken from the winner. There is no good-bye or I’m sorry, just go and get your stones and lets get this over with.

So in final I still do not know what to think of these people. We will leave this topic on this note, and maybe one day we can come back with the answers. In light of this grim event stay true my lovely readers, and I shall see you all soon.