There was a short excerpt from one of my favorite authors, John C. Maxwell, that I was looking at earlier where he addresses the subject of money.  He essentially pared things down to two things that money can help you do.  One is that it gives you options and two is that it allows you to help others.  I really liked this message as it was very simple and to the point.  Many of us always fantasize about what having a windfall of money could mean in our lives.  For some, it could be the saving grace in a culmination of moments that were woven with uncertainty, apprehension or anxiety.  The spectrum could certainly swing from the materialistic to the philanthropic.  I also recall many years ago with a good friend of mine where we used to buy lottery tickets, about 2-3 dollars each about once a month and when we discussed how we would spend our millions, we called it our version of therapy.  We considered that this type of therapy was much less expensive than a professional session and more importantly, it kept us dreaming and laughing about the possibilities.  In hearing Mr. Maxwell talk about his two simple definitions of money, it resonated with me as I am in full agreement with his explanation.  After all of these years of dreaming about how money could change my life, it does not alter the fact that I appreciate so many other things that cannot be bought by wealth itself.  Good health, a harmonious happy family, good friends that you can depend on or among the most valuable to me; inner-peace.  I still dream about many things that a good fortune could bring, however, I also include in my dreams how much responsibility I would have in helping others.  The bottom line, is that many people around us need assistance and whether we could provide our time and talent versus a monetary amount, the world still needs us to give back.  We all have the ability to be a wind fall to someone else, it just depends on the perspective.  Choose to use your resources or talent to do good things and with good intentions.  In the end, your contributions will be far more valuable than the world's definition of this term.