It’s odd, isn’t it? Almost everyone, no matter where they’re from or what they believe in, seems to secretly—or not so secretly—dream about hitting the jackpot. The thought of stumbling upon gold, cracking open a treasure chest, or finding some buried fortune has an almost universal appeal. I can’t help but wonder, though: why are we so hooked on the fantasy of instant riches? The more I think about it, the more I see that this hunger is dangerous—sometimes deadly. It’s like an itch that’s never satisfied, making people risk it all for just a whiff of easy money.
If you dig around in history, you’ll find no shortage of folks who chased wealth down impossible roads. From the Spanish conquistadors on quests for El Dorado to modern-day treasure hunters scouring shipwrecks for sunken gold, people have been obsessed with finding easy wealth for centuries. And these aren’t isolated cases; they’re human instincts written in bold. Take some guy in the 1600s, hacking his way through a jungle, imagining he’ll get back home with mountains of gold. That same dream is alive and kicking today—only now we’ve traded the jungle for the lottery ticket, the crypto gamble, or even a heist movie fantasy. It’s like we can’t resist the allure of the “get rich quick” scheme, even though it’s more likely to leave us penniless than anything else.
What strikes me is how this craving can make a person do things they’d never imagine doing otherwise. If you’ve ever caught yourself fantasizing about a big win, you’ll know how quickly you start thinking of all the things you could do with that money. It’s intoxicating. Now, imagine that daydream morphing into desperation. A man can go from wishing to win to willing to steal in the blink of an eye. There’s a point where the craving turns ruthless. Just look at some of those grisly headlines: a friend betrayed, a family torn apart, all for the love of quick cash. And while it’s easy to judge from the outside, I sometimes wonder—if I were pushed far enough, what would I do for money?
There’s a kind of dark humor in how universal this is. I mean, look at religious stories! There’s usually a warning about greed somewhere. In the Bible, there’s the story of Judas, who sold out Jesus for a handful of silver coins. In mythology, Midas wanted everything he touched to turn to gold, only to learn that it made even his food inedible. It’s like every culture’s warning us: “Watch out—chasing wealth can destroy you.” Yet here we are, still diving headfirst into the very traps our ancestors tried to warn us about.
What gets me is how our cravings are even stronger now. In the old days, the quest for riches meant physically traveling to some distant land or diving to the bottom of the ocean. Today, you don’t even need to leave your house. There’s an endless scroll of glamorous lifestyles on social media, flashy cars, luxurious mansions—all within reach, or so they say. It’s no wonder people feel like everyone else is rich but them. When you feel like you’re the only one missing out, that desire to “catch up” can turn frantic. It’s a sad joke that we’re somehow closer to wealth than ever, but happiness? Still just as out of reach.
I think of the people I’ve known who have been lured by these shiny promises. A cousin who burned through his savings on get-rich-quick schemes. A neighbor who got tangled up in scams, convinced he’d hit the big time if he just stuck with it a little longer. They were both so sure they’d found a shortcut to success, but all they found was disappointment. It’s easy to see the warning signs from a distance, but up close, when it’s your own life and dreams on the line, things get a lot blurrier. And before you know it, you’re neck-deep, chasing something you thought would make you free, only to find you’re trapped.
What’s ironic is that we keep convincing ourselves we’ll be the exception. It’s like a massive game of musical chairs, where everyone is sure they’ll be the last one standing. And when the music stops, and someone loses, they’re baffled, as if it wasn’t obvious all along. The system—whether it’s the lottery, the stock market, or another get-rich scheme—wasn’t designed for everyone to win. Yet we all jump in, grinning like fools, convinced we’ve outsmarted everyone else. But in the end, most of us are left holding nothing.
So where does that leave us? I’m not saying we should give up on dreams or that wanting financial security is bad. But maybe the answer lies in recognizing what’s real and what’s not. The treasure we’re searching for isn’t buried in the ground or a lottery ticket. It’s probably closer than we think, lying somewhere in the relationships, passions, and moments we overlook while chasing after something that’ll never really satisfy. Maybe, just maybe, if we stop reaching for the unreachable, we’ll find we’re already richer than we thought.
