Ovarian Lottery

Few years ago while reading Warren Buffett I first learnt about the ovarian lottery. Buffet came up with the term to describe how lucky people born in the US are in the sense of the benefits of a solid infrastructure, health, education and economic perspective. Those are the building blocks for a good life and that argument does hold water in my opinion. 

Personally, I have never won any lottery. That’s because I never bought any tickets for lotteries. I was surprised how popular it’s in the US to go into a store and while paying for your item, purchase a few lottery tickets. Anyways, I consider myself lucky to be born to amazing parents who deeply cared and brought me up with lots of love, affection and values. That’s what the ovarian lottery means to me. 

Thinking of lotteries, I think finding someone who lights up your path is the ultimate lottery. That’s when Swami Ji came into my life. It’s the mother and father of all lotteries, one that made me so full and content that the desire for other lotteries slowly began to disappear. 

When I first moved to the US, I used to sometimes wonder, how amazing would my life be if I grew up in the US versus India. All these thoughts and feelings of more or less, comfort and material things slowly began to disappear as I realized the eternal lottery I had been blessed with. It’s like someone knocking on your door one day and saying “Hey you have been blessed with a lottery.” Suddenly the realization dawns oh wow I have won a lottery. Woo hoo!!! 

Sometimes it may feel that we didn’t win the ovarian lottery or that the opposite happened in our case. I think of people born with disabilities. I think they perhaps could have a genuine argument but did you see the Paralympics that just happened in Tokyo? I think that’s what breaking stereotypes really is about. A person couldn’t be visually impaired but lack of sight doesn’t prevent one from having a vision for a wonderful life. 

Count your blessings. One at a time.