𝙄'𝙢 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜...

      I have always hated capitalism and capitalists, because I consider them all to be selfish people who always think only about themselves and about making even more money, although they already have enough of it. And it seemed, where could they have more? To become the richest? Well, this is already a stupid motivation at the level of a clichéd villain like: “I’m evil simply because I’m evil” or “I’m evil and I’ll take over the whole world.” And how many poor, hungry and homeless people, as well as Mobians, are there in the world. Plus, as you remember, through my own stupidity I became a homeless bum and because of this I understand all those people perfectly, but I hate the richest people even more. After all, they don’t think about anyone except themselves and money. However, the story I’m going to tell you about now will even be a little funny. After all, this story is about how I myself became the same rich hedgehog millionaire in one day and almost became a billionaire.

***

      Early one morning, when I woke up and, as usual, poured Lucky Charms with milk for my breakfast, since I was a little tired of chili dogs, I calmly ate my children's food like a toddler and watched the news on TV in the kitchen. The news said that one of the millionaires had achieved success and earned his first billion, becoming a billionaire. His next goal is to become a trillionaire and he will do anything to achieve this goal. I immediately suspected that this egoist would release all sorts of shit and sell it to everyone like candy in order to get even more money from everyone, although they already had enough of it. Where does he need more millions? It would be better if he spent it for good and distributed it to the poor and homeless. Now, if I were the richest, for example, a millionaire or billionaire, then this is exactly what I would do. After all, that would be right. Having finished breakfast, I left the house and saw... Oh! Coin! Taking it in my hands, I examined it and the coin was not like the others. This coin was one measly dollar, and on the back was some face of some ancient man. Probably some kind of king. At first I thought that someone had lost it or accidentally dropped it near his house and began shouting around throughout the village: — HEY!!! AU!!! SOMEBODY!!! WHOSE COIN IS THIS??? DID SOMEONE LOST A COIN??? — I shouted and asked, but no one responded. Everyone was busy with their own business and didn’t even pay attention to me. Probably no one lost it after all. Some fool must have just stupidly thrown it away, deciding that he didn’t need it. Then I decided to keep it for myself, since it belongs to no one. Shouldn't the unfortunate coin disappear? I didn't have to go to work today so I decided to go for a walk. On the way, I saw that Knuckles got a job as an ice cream vendor near his ice cream shop. By the way, his ice cream was very tasty and varied. And most importantly, he sold it cheaper for mere cents. Therefore, all the people and Mobians in our village often resorted to him and bought almost two ice cream cones or a whole pack in reserve and did not buy absolutely all the ice cream from him until the last one. Then I thought, why don’t I buy at least one ice cream cone from Knuckles for this very one extra dollar in the form of a coin. Besides, it won’t be long before I get my salary so I can go and buy food. Having decided on this, I approached the echidna and his ice cream stand. — Sonic! Nice meeting! What kind of ice cream do you prefer? — he asks me. — Do you have chocolate? — You offend! — of course, he answered this with cheerful sarcasm, took out a waffle cone and put two chocolate balls of ice cream there. — That's seventy cents. — Do you just accept one dollar without change? — I asked, and he, thoughtfully, answered: — No change? Hm. Okay! I accept. He gives me the ice cream, and I give him that same coin. When Knuckles saw that coin, his jaw immediately dropped and his eyes almost flew out of their sockets. — Uh... Knuckles? — Wait a minute?... What?... — What, Knuckles? Is there something wrong with the coin? — Sonic, where did you find this coin? — It was lying near my house. Someone must have dropped it, but what? — Sonic, don’t you know that this is not just one dollar coin, but a coin of one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three, created under Tsar Ivan Gorky. They don't make these anywhere else. This is the rarest and most exclusive coin. One such coin of these is now worth fifteen million and eight hundred thirty-eight thousand paper dollars in real dollars and cents. Don't ask why it costs so much money! There are currently only four such coins in the world, not counting this one, while the remaining copies of such a coin were destroyed in the last century. You have no idea how lucky you are, Sonic. — of course, Knuckles told me all this out of joy and returned the coin back to me. - Don't give this coin to anyone, Sonic. You're lucky that you were the only one who came across it. You must give this coin to the bank, but of course on the condition that they give you modern and good money for it in advance. I was in utter shock. Knuckles, according to the idea, could not give it back to me at all, but keep it for himself, so that later he himself could become very rich with it. But apparently I was lucky for the second time that Knuckles turned out to be a little stupid and gave the coin back to me. And it turns out I never paid for the ice cream from him. Okay though! I’ll take the coin to the bank, get millions for it and then pay Knuckles in advance with real cents, I thought and immediately ran home. I took my favorite blue mobile phone, I call the bank and inform them about that very coin and what kind of coin it is, as Knuckles himself described it. Of course, at first they didn’t believe me and I decided to come to them personally and show this very coin. When they saw her, they were just as shocked as Knuckles. They even wanted to take it away from me in advance, but I didn’t give it to them and asked them to pay me for it first. There was nothing to do and they agreed to pay for it. True, they deceived me a little and paid me three million and two hundred and twenty thousand dollars less. But that doesn't matter anymore! The main thing is that I received money for a rare coin? Received! Now I didn’t give a damn about my salary. I could have gone to the store in advance and bought myself some food, but of course I kept my promise and still paid Knuckles for that ice cream, and bought another one of the same kind, paying extra. I just couldn’t believe that for the first time in my life I became one of the richest. After all, now I can buy myself anything. Well, except for friendship and love, which I essentially have to earn myself and honestly. After all, true friendship and love is not sold, but achieved for free. Suddenly someone knocked at my house. I opened the door, and there stood a tall man in a business suit. — Hello! — I said. — Hello, are you Sonic the Hedgehog? — he asked me and I introduced myself: — Yes. — I heard you made almost thirteen million dollars. And as I see, judging by this pile in your room, this is true. — he said. - Do you want to sell me something for them? - I asked him, and he answered me: — No, I came to congratulate you because you became a millionaire. — WHAT??? — I shouted then and couldn’t believe my ears. — What am I supposed to do? — Like what? Since you are a millionaire, you can do whatever you want. You can even make yourself a black armor suit with a bunch of gadgets and become a crime-fighting superhero at night. You can build yourself a new house, a factory and start a business with production, establish trade relations with someone, or even invest your millions somewhere so that the shares rise. — Wait! And if I invest, will I make the world a better place? — I asked. — Certainly. Some millionaires sometimes invest their money in charities such as the military and thereby make their lives easier. And you can do it too. And after that, I immediately decided to spend all my millions for good, to invest them in a good cause. I gave two million and five hundred eighty-eight thousand dollars to an orphanage in Station Square, which was full of sick children and for whose treatment there was not enough money. With my contribution, their shelter will make life easier and they will be able to not only cure the children, but also feed them well. I gave three million and thirty thousand to Hollywood, thereby helping them with the problem of the budget for a film about a superhero in the multiverse, in case the film failed at the box office. They even promised to mention me in the end credits as a token of gratitude for my generous contribution to this film. I still had six million and nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred dollars left in reserve, since I had to pay more movers to help me move all my money from city to city. I invested two and a half million dollars for the children in the kindergarten and for the renovation of the kindergarten itself, since they also did not have enough money. I invested another two million back into the same bank that gave it to me for that same coin. I felt sorry for them, so to speak, otherwise it was probably my fault that they themselves had little money left to give loans to someone, for example. I gave fifty thousand dollars to two street artists, who, as a sign of gratitude, even decided to personally draw my own portrait. Just in case, so that their paintings immediately become expensive and significant in history, if suddenly, sooner or later, the artists ever die. By the way, they even drew my own portrait of excellent quality in anime style. They even wanted to give it to me for free, but I refused and suggested that it would be better for them to keep it as a souvenir, so that this portrait would also become as expensive as the others. I have already invested four million dollars in factories for the production of dairy products, diapers, toys, canned goods, chocolate, candies and even baked goods from bread to buns. In return, they even sold me shares that I didn’t need in principle. Therefore, I simply burned the shares I bought from the factories, deciding that let the money just go for good. Returning back to the village, I already had two hundred and ninety thousand and eight hundred dollars left in my reserve, but I didn’t complain that I spent it all for good. After all, I helped many people in this way. Plus, I even shared with my friends in the village and gave everyone some of my money. I decided to keep the remaining twenty thousand dollars in reserve for now. For one thing, I bought myself a safe just in case, so that I would have somewhere to store them for a rainy day. I didn’t want to earn any more from that day forward.

***

      About a month passed until I then began to live a normal life at this very moment. On this new day, something awaited me that made even my jaw drop. Thanks to my contribution to those factories, for example, as I learned from the news, the workers began to try harder and prepare their goods a little faster, focusing not only on quantity but also on quality. We focused on quality first and foremost. Their shares rose even more. And in all this they thanked me, and even promised to deliver half of all their honestly earned money to my home, although I essentially burned their shares. But even without them, they will still send them to me. And those two artists from the street who also painted my portrait still died, and their paintings were even put in a museum and sold for millions. Moreover, these artists died a little stupidly, in my personal opinion. The first artist died stupidly, simply by getting drunk, and the second was accidentally run over by a car while he was rushing to work. I hoped that they would at least live longer or even improve their lives, start families and live happily ever after. Even the kindergarten and orphanage were grateful to me for my help and sent me letters of gratitude. And a film about superheroes in the multiverse was eventually filmed and released in advance on a streaming service, where it was watched by millions of viewers and in the end the film still paid off, despite the fact that the budget increased due to my contribution. By the way, as they promised, they mentioned my name in the final credits and even personally called me from Hollywood and said that they would return to me the amount of money that I had invested in their budget. Even the same bank not only returned my investment, but also paid me extra on top. As a result, I received thirty-two million and five hundred and twenty thousand dollars. I was speechless and didn’t even know what to do now with such a pile of money, which had become even larger. I thought that all these shares would simply fall, but in return I would help them a little with my contribution and that’s all. There was no need to return all this to me, much less add to it. At some point, millionaires from other cities came to me, together with their personal reporters, greeted me and decided to interview me: — Mr. Hedgehog, you must be incredibly lucky to have become the richest hedgehog. What will you do with your millions? Will you build yourself a new home? — No. — No? Well then, maybe build some kind of factory and start running your own business to earn even more. — No. — Well, maybe buy more shares, also investing in military factories and camps, like we do? — No. — O! We know! Maybe you will buy yourself some company with films or video games and will monitor their production yourself, so that they are made only according to your opinion. — No. — Well, maybe then you’ll just open your own bank and store your capital there? — No. — Then what will you do with your money? — they finally decided to find out my opinion on this topic and I honestly answered them: — I won’t spend it anywhere. I'd rather distribute them for everyone's benefit. For example, homeless or poor people who do not have money to eat or stay warm. I’ll even give it to friends and family and share it with them, so that it’s fair. In general, I will distribute all my millions to each and every poor and homeless person, as well as Mobians. — But, Mr. Hedgehog. If you give away your honestly earned money to everyone like this, then you will have nothing left and you will no longer be a millionaire. — they told me, and I just waved my hand and said: — Just think! You yourself are millionaires, and so you have captivated the whole world. There are enough millionaires, billionaires and even trillionaires in this world without me. The main thing for me is that the world becomes better, fairer, kinder, more honest and warmer. They, of course, did not answer me anything, but simply left silently. And good riddance to these selfish people! Although I should say thank you to them, because they still aired that same interview with me and how I told how I would spend my millions. Even my friends in the whole village saw it on TV and were so happy for me that I decided to act so honestly. Well, of course I kept my promise. I went around all the United States of America and even Canada, sharing my money here and there with poor people and homeless people, for which they were terribly grateful to me. Some of them even found good jobs and began to earn their own housing and food. What does it mean? And this means that even though I spent all my millions, and although I left almost nothing for myself, I was pleased that I had made the world a little better by sharing my money with it. I’m still not an egoist who always thinks only about himself and money. I am Sonic, the hero of the whole world, whom everyone loves and respects, and the hero that the whole world deserves. Everyone wants to look up to me and be just like me. And if I was able to prove that sharing money with others is better than earning it only for myself and trying to earn even more money only for myself, then maybe other millionaires and billionaires will finally think about this in the same way and whether they will follow mine the same way? Or will they remain the same greedy egoists? Who knows! By the way, I also wanted to give some money to my sworn enemy Eggman, even though we don’t get along well. But he refused to accept them. Although he can be understood, because for some reason he often invents his factories and robots with machines almost for free. I hope this story will serve as a lesson for you too, kids. If you suddenly, like me, are just as lucky and you also become rich, then don’t think about yourself! Think first of all about the poor and homeless people who live on the streets and are almost dying of hunger! Help them, share with them and make this world a better place so that everyone takes you as a good example to follow. I hope that my life story will serve as a lesson to you. I have always been like this since birth and will never be the same selfish greedy person as all the millionaires and billionaires.