You hold the little piece of paper in your hand, a futile dream. But you can’t win if you don’t play, right?

Sure, you know the odds of winning, roughly 1 in 292,201,338. But what the heck. Maybe it’s still worth a shot.

When the numbers are called out and the dust settles, your life will go on. You’ll surely have lost, but at least you’ll know you tried. For a few glorious moments this day, you can dream of a better future.

And really, isn’t life one big lottery? You cross your fingers each day as the sun comes up, hoping you make it far enough to see the clouds turn gloriously pink that evening. We’re never really in control. We grasp at whatever hope we can find.

So you hold the little piece of paper in your hand. You say to hell with the odds.

And you start filling out your voting ballot.

Life is funny …