This one hit home, though perhaps it’s not something to relate to willingly. On a personal level, I see the value to a randomness over which there could be no reasonable control. Why? Because organization in many ways to many people other than those at the top means no more control than chance; worse, it may mean a set fate that hope cannot penetrate.
On a relevant to current world workings level, I see the good idea gone bad because of the pressure of the mob mentality. In The Babylon Lottery, a small sector of merchants start up a lottery with a single winner, all other losers out just the money they’ve put in. Of course, if the winnings go to the winner alone, it loses some of its appeal, so a few more winners are added along with the twist of "winning" as a loser; losers who must pay huge fines. These too are randomly selected. This also makes the lottery more acccessible to the poor, and eventually the line between rich and poor is disguised under the mantle of luck. Most often, losers cannot or choose not to pay so that the law enters in to imprison those who have cheated what has now grown into a secret society called the "Company."
Then money of course becomes a problem so that instead, position, punishment, rewards of material things or status replace the prizes as well as the pay-ins. Everything turns into a game of chance, nothing is achieved by self effort–or at least can be officially claimed as such. Eventually, it becomes unlawful to not participate and no ticket is purchased, but rather all have been entered. Soon, the unpredictable becomes the way of life for all who live under this odd method in Babylon.
Strange that the idea of random could become more organized than that which has been planned out. The lure would of course be the possibility of good fortune where perhaps for many there was none. The roller-coaster ride versus the rut is something that tweaks the human spirit. Blame for the bad, remember, need not be taken on as a burden. Every day holds the possibility of elation or despair. Disorder becomes order. Yet there still is no control–but then, when did man truly ever as a society have it?
The growth and progression of the system of the lottery reminds me of a labyrinth where a simple entryway turns into paths that can bring one out successfully, leave one traveling through its corridors endlessly, or drive one into the brink and beyond of human sanity.
It is what people want when they really don’t know what they want so they choose different and unknown.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology