Lotteryist Week 23
Another new clerk helped me this week. I always enjoy meeting new clerks. I enjoy watching them learn how to do the lottery thing. I get to have this joy a lot because there is a huge turnover at my PLC. I’m guessing huge turnovers are a fact of life at local stop-and-robs. As to the last sentence, I am being unfair. The robbery rate in my little town is low. And I have never felt unsafe at my PLC no matter what time of day or night I happen to be there.
But back to the main idea of the day. I like new clerks. I like to watch people learn new stuff. And I like to watch teachers teach. It’s ok with me if it takes a few more moments to lose my money. I mean really, what kind of impatient twit would I be if it bothered me to spend three minutes at the counter instead of sixty seconds? The joy of her “I did it!” smile was well worth those few minutes.
In exchange for my $3.00 and those few minutes I get to watch someone’s life change. Because every time you learn something new, you are different that you were before. You are changed. Granted learning to sell a lottery ticket may not be the most exciting thing to learn, but learning any new thing, and I really mean any new thing, and you are changed. You are different, you know more, you are smarter, you have another wrinkle in your brain. Making more brain wrinkles makes it easier to learn, to grow smarter. Learning is one of the coolest parts of our existence.
At the risk of sounding intellectually sanctimonious, I try to learn something new each day. I think of it as brain calisthenics – calisthenics without the sweat.
But while learning something new is important for brain health, learning how to do something new is even healthier. Learning how to so something new may be harder, but it changes you even more. It makes the brain stronger. It makes the brain smarter. It makes you stronger. It makes you smarter.
Did I learn how to do something new today? I have to admit, no. But I was part of someone growing, growing stronger, growing smarter. So cool.
$3.00 is a small price to pay for that privilege. No way can I count my $3.00 as wasted money.