Education still worth more than any windfall

Ellamie Inot, the 18-year-old jobless dropout from Lapu-Lapu City who recently won a million pesos in a noontime television show, is reportedly going on to college along with two of her siblings.

This wonderful turn of events comes as a whiff of fresh air in the aftermath of the terrible tragedy that attended a similar game show at a rival network, in which dozens of people were killed in a stampede while trying to win a chance to also bag that very elusive windfall.

And that is precisely what is missed by most people - those who brave the fates for that one chance for a windfall, and those in the sidelines who feel uplifted by the occasional beautiful stories such as the one that starred Ellamie Inot.

We are mesmerized by windfalls, so much in fact that we tend to forget the very plight that drives people to hitch their fortunes to plain luck. Those who are a little bit better off and can afford to spare a few pesos try a different tack, like betting on the lotto.

Those who have nothing bet on game shows using their bodies. Some say these game shows exploit the misery and desperation of the poor. Maybe they do but then again maybe no. The answer can swing widely, depending on the urgency or expendability of one's fancy for a windfall.

Those who urgently need to crash into one of those shows for the chance they offer at a windfall think nothing of exploitation. If getting in is to be exploited, then what the hell do they care. Freedom from exploitation cannot buy a cup of rice any day anyway.

Ellamie Inot was one of the lucky few for whom the fates smiled recently. Hers is now one heartwarming story, something the media can feast upon. What nobody cares about are those whose dreams are shattered by tragedy, or simply ignored by the fates, again and again.

There are far more of the latter category that we see and keep seeing everyday, only that we refuse to acknowledge them, in a rare instance of misery actually being shunned by company. In bitterness they begin to suspect exploitation, but promptly shelve the thought to try again.

Oh well, why should we dwell on shattered dreams? At least, from time to time, there are stories of success like that of Ellamie. If we can focus on that, perhaps that is already the one little candle our faith often tells us to light.

It is good that Ellamie is going back to school. At least, in school, she will obtain her objectives the hard way. There is no windfall in school. She will have to struggle and sacrifice to make it, if no longer financially, at least academically and physically.

The money Ellamie won will not last very long, of course. A million pesos is not much these days. But what she earns in school will be hers for always. And that is perhaps the best part of her winning that one million pesos.

It is a very wise investment. More so that she took at least two of her siblings to share a crack at a different, though more assured, future. If they get to finish school, and there is no reason now that they shouldn't, that will mean three potential breadwinners in the family.

But sticking to that new path can prove difficult for the lucky girl and her two siblings. Having lived for years deprived of the most basic comforts of life, money can mesmerize her family.

If they allow themselves to get carried away by the urge to whoop it up, that one million pesos can evaporate in a flash. And the family may end up wishing for another windfall, only that luck, like lightning, hardly ever strikes at the same place twice.