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Article: How to succeed in life ... by really trying: money doesn't buy happiness, but success does. Arthur C. Brooks explores how capitalism, moored in proper values of hard work, honesty, and fairness, is a key to our gross national happiness.
- Article from:
- The American (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- May 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The American, a Magazine of Ideas The American, a Magazine of Ideas. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
On July 23, 2000, a forty-two-year-old forklift operator in Corbin, Kentucky, named Mack Metcalf was working a 12-hour nightshift. On his last break, he half-heartedly checked the Sunday paper for the winning Kentucky lottery numbers. He didn't expect to be a winner, of course--but hey, you never know.
Mack Metcalfs ticket, it turned out, was the winner of the $65 million Powerball jackpot, and it changed his life forever. What did he do first? He quit his job. "I clocked out right then, and I haven't been back," he later recounted. In fact, his first impulse was to quit everything, after a life characterized by problem drinking, ...