Not long after crossing from Louisiana into Mississippi on Highway 969, near Pinckneyville, you’ll find a monument to fickle fortune.
It isn’t inscribed that way on the roadside plaque. It’s never that obvious. Instead, it indicates the unmarked grave of Oliver Pollock.
Pollock, born in Northern Ireland in 1737, emigrated to Pennsylvania at age 23. Shortly after, he began trading goods as far away as New Orleans, Havana, and the West Indies.
When scarcities developed in New Orleans, he imported flour from Pennsylvania, selling it below market value. For this he was granted free trade there, becoming the city’s most successful businessman.
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Pollock became perhaps the most generous supporter of the fledgling U.S. government. However, after the war he was bankrupted, spending time in debtor’s prison.
Ironically, it’s thought that the dollar sign ($) was introduced by Pollock in his correspondence with patriot Robert Morris, when sending records of the Spanish pesos used to finance the war.
“Because Pollock recorded these Spanish ‘dollars’ or ‘pesos’ as ‘ps’ and because he tended to run both letters together, the resulting symbol resembled a $,” says Jim Woodrick, the Historic Preservation Division Director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Pollock lived out his last days with his daughter and her husband, the town doctor of Pinckneyville. Although he sought relief, he was never reimbursed. Fickle fortune gave him an unmarked grave in an abandoned church cemetery in rural Mississippi.
Funny thing about stuff. As Solomon put it, when you have little, it means a lot. The more you have, the less it means, until, when you have everything, it means nothing.
After a while, money is just the way you keep score. It has absolutely zero influence on real satisfaction. Either way, it leaves you or you’ll leave it.
John D. Rockefeller was America’s first billionaire—when that was real money. When asked how much he needed to be happy, he replied, “Just a little more.”
During their 1966 Japanese tour, the Beatles were confined to their suite at the Tokyo Hilton between performances because of the hysterical crowds. So merchants brought their wares to them.
When John Lennon bought a scroll painting, jewelry, incense, a chess set, and decorative boxes, spending a breathtaking 5,380,000 yen, he was asked, “What are you collecting?” “Just dust,” he replied.
Trust Muhammad Ali to give the knockout punch line: “I had the world,” he quipped, “an’ it ain’t nothin’.”
As I write this, the Powerball jackpot is about $1.3 billion. If history tells us anything, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Win money. Pay taxes. Gain headaches and heartaches. Lose friends and family. And prove what Jesus said is true.
“Watch out!” He warned. “Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15, BSB)
The truly happy life is actually a gift! Here’s Jesus’ offer: “The one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24, NASB)
Fickle fortune mocks your fate. Unlike Oliver Pollock, the best it may do is give you a dandy funeral. Faith in Jesus never disappoints. And the abundant life He offers just keeps getting better—forever.
Article published September 6, 2025 in the Commercial Dispatch.