Other than higher rewards, what else might get you to pay one or two
dollars for a ticket? What about better
odds? Would you play numbers if the
change of winning was one in one million?
That’s about the same as the odds of being killed by lightning. What about one in a thousand? A hundred?
Would you play the lottery with the odds of winning being one in
fifty? You’d still have roughly a 98%
chance of losing, but I’d be willing to bet (no pun intended) that many of you
would run to the local convenience store to play!
Let’s go back to the lightning odds.
When a lightning storm approaches, do you run for cover? Why?
As I said, the odds of being killed by lightning are one in a
million. Then again, the odds of being
merely struck by lightning are around one in half a million. Still, statistically speaking, you wouldn’t get
struck by lightning in a storm…right?
Hmmm…then again, being under a tree or holding a golf club supposedly
increases your chance of being struck, doesn’t it? But do you think that the odds are really all
that high? I’m sure they’re nowhere near
as great as one in fifty. Still, I’m
guessing you run for cover despite the odds against being struck.
Did you know that one in fifty Americans will be diagnosed with
melanoma in their lifetime? Yep, those
are the same “good” odds as I described above…the same odds that would have you
buying lottery tickets or running for cover at the first sound of distant
thunder. One in fifty. I bet you walked past at least fifty people
today…and one of them (maybe you?) will be diagnosed with melanoma. Still, like I said, there’s a 98% chance of
never having this disease. But what
about being “affected?”
Let’s look at some more numbers.
Let’s say the average person has two parents. Some parents have passed on and some folks
have step-parents…so let’s stick with two on average.
Now let’s assume the national average of two kids per household…so that
means the average person has one sibling.
Now let’s assume there’s at least one more important loved one…perhaps
another sibling, perhaps a spouse, or just a really close friend. Including the average person, we just created
a group of five people. Ten groups of
five people add up to fifty people all together. One of those fifty will have melanoma at some
point. I might not be a statistician,
but I would think that means there’s a one in ten chance that the average person’s
group will be affected by melanoma!
Sure, the odds still give you an 90% chance of not being affected, but I’m
willing to bet that a one in ten chance of being somehow closely affected by
melanoma makes you a bit uncomfortable.
Like the lightning scenario, you can run for cover! You can wear sunscreen…you can wear
protective clothing…you can stay in the shade at the peak of the day…and by all
means, avoid the lightning rod known as the tanning salon. You can lessen the odds of being affected by
practicing safe sun…and spreading the word to your loved ones.
