One Million Dollars / First 24 Hours

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This is a challenge where you have to post what you would do with One Million Dollars (after tax) if you were handed it today and more specifiically what would you do in the first 24 hours.

Thanks a so much to @deirdyweirdy for the nomination, and if you have time go and read her selfless plan for a million quid. You can find it here.

I actually wrote thanks a million first above, but had to change it, as it sounded like such a cringey pun. It was completely by accident and then I realised... I'm always coming out with accidental puns like that! Not sure if it is subliminal or what! :o)

Anyway, I'm heading off on a tangent as I tend to do....

So a million quid...

10,000 crisp Benjamins..

Sorry, I can't help but think of this classic scene, when the sentence one million dollars crosses my lips, or my keyboard.. Such a damn funny movie :o)

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So.....

Knock Knock

Hmmmmm, it's 22:57 - a bit late for a visitor... Arah, feck it I better answer the door...

"Hi, are you Joe?"

"I am"

"This is for you - it is one million dollars. It is being offered to you by a rich businessman and admirer of the arts. He wants to give you this gift in return for never writing a story/poem/song ever again!"

"Cha-ching. "

A1 man!!! One million smackaroos.... What's a fella to do...

I think the first thing, I'll do is have a big ass party with all my friends and family... Like a big wedding without the church bit.... 4 course meals, a band - maybe The National or Arcade Fire, no scratch that, too hard to pick, we'll go for both, and we'd have to have a DJ for when the band finishes playing, I'll have to see if DJ Shadow is free... I remember seeing him once at Electric Picnic - talented boy...

After blowing some money on the party, I'll then look to do something sensible, so the first port of call will be to pay down my mortgage in full. Compound bloody interest The biggest swindle of the last couple of centuries... Your loan will be paid back over 30 years at a very meager rate of 3.15%... Why not be up straight and call it how it is.

You want $350,000 and you want 30 years to pay it off, well sir/madam, that will be charged at an interest rate of 57.88% and that is assuming low interest rate remain, which let's be honest they will not, so the actual figure will likely be closer to 60%. So whenever you get a chance to pay down some of your principal, do it, and make sure your sneaky bank doesn't keep your term the same and reduce your repayments - that's just another sneaky way to make you pay them more.. Chancers the lot of them..

This chap summed it up well during Ireland's banking crisis... Greed, greed and more greed as he says... Give it a listen, quite insightful, if you are offended by bad language, maybe skip the video though..

There I go, off on a tangent again!!! :o)

So, what else would I do within those first 24 hours? Well, I'd like to think I would do something philanthropic as well. There are so many good causes, all worthy of a donation, but for me, Pieta House is up there with the best of them. Suicide in Ireland is a huge problem, and indeed throughout the world. In Ireland young men seem to be particularly vulnerable, and I myself saw this at first hand, when 3 friends took their own lives within 2 months of each other 14 years ago. Since then another ten people I knew personally did the same tragic thing, and I am from a pretty small Irish City, with a population of less than 100,000. The pain and anguish for their parents and siblings especially must be irreparable, and my heart goes out to every single one of them. No parent should ever have to bury their child, especially in such circumstances. We are getting better at talking, and not bottling things up, but we still have a long way to go.

Thankfully the rates are falling, but there is much work to do.

Pieta House opened it's doors in 2006, and have helped over 30,000 people in that time, I shudder to think of the table above, without their life-saving services.

Sorry to end on a downer, but these are the kinds of things we should talk about and need to talk about.

And now for my 5 nominations @edprivat @irreverent-dan @dennisauburn @niallon11 and @deaconlee (If you've been nominated already just ignore this)

Look forward to reading your entries if you find the time...

Peace out,

Ablaze 🔥