Four stories that made news piqued my interest last week, the first being the $2m that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt donated to a Namibian wildlife sanctuary where they spent Christmas. Too bad you can’t hear me whistling, the way people do when they see or hear something unusual or awesome. Apparently, their donation will help the sanctuary continue to take care of wounded animals.

So how does an animal park spend $2m? Serve the animals chicken every day, buy shoes for elephants or perhaps treat lions to massages?

I’ve always believed that some people are just lucky. Whoever owns that sanctuary (and I hope it’s not the Namibian Government) must be one happy man/woman. He can even close shop today if he wishes and spend the rest of his life vacationing because $2m is a lot of money. Brad and Angelina must really like Namibia. She had her first child in that country and the family seems to have travelled there a couple more times over the years. So, I just set my resolution for 2011. I have to visit Namibia sometime. I just need to find out when Jolie and Pitt will be there and who knows, our paths might just cross.

I don’t need millions because I wouldn’t even know what to do with all that money. Dear Brad and Angelina, $200,000 would change my life. News item number two: Beyonce Knowles, yes, that woman who most of our men drool over, got over $350,000 worth of handbags and purses from her husband Jay-Z for Christmas. Where do I even start?

Didn’t she have more than enough bags already? Remember celebrities get lots of free stuff and she must have bought some herself over the years. She needs a whole house to keep all those bags! She probably won’t even get to use all of them this year. I’m not jealous. Okay, maybe I am.

I have only two handbags, both of which cost under $50! Of course I would love to have more but I wouldn’t spend $350,000 on bags! God, the things I would do with that money. Buy my own car and another one for my family, build my dream house, pay my nieces’ school fees for the next three years, and donate to my local church... Oh and in case you didn’t know, Beyonce bought Jay-Z a $2m car for his birthday while he allegedly bought her a $20m private island. That is so not fair.

Then there was Ted Williams, a 53-year-old man who has gone from being homeless to becoming an Internet sensation. It all started in December when videographer Doral Chenoweth and his wife Robin were driving along a highway in Ohio, their hometown.

Mr Chenoweth usually stops to speak to beggars and homeless people and has photographed some over the years. He pays attention to their signs and that’s how he noticed Williams, a shabby wild-haired man who was holding a piece of cardboard that read, "I have a God-given gift of voice. I’m an ex-radio announcer who has fallen on hard times...” 

When the couple rolled down their car window to offer him some money, he launched into an imaginary radio presentation. Turns out he has a beautiful voice for a beggar and Mr Chenoweth didn’t waste time interviewing him and posting the video on the Internet. The rest, as they say, is history. The former street guy has since got many job offers including serving as an announcer for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers! Why don’t such things happen to some of us?

Last but not least was the story about thieves who broke into to a Buenos Aires bank and looted nearly 140 safety deposit boxes. Apparently, they had rented a building right next to the bank and dug a 100-foot connecting tunnel complete with lighting, ventilation and reinforcement. Now those are some creative thieves. Not that I condone what they did, but at least there were no shootings or loss of life. Call them "good” thieves if you like. We talked about this incident with friends, mostly guys, deliberating whether they would be willing to take such a risk. Like me, some of them are cowards and would not contemplate anything like that. Others said they would consider it. What about jail in case you’re caught, I asked. "I would endure that and enjoy my millions after serving my time, one guy said.”

I’ve heard of bank tellers and operatives who conspire with robbers and some are caught but not before stashing the money away. They don’t stay in jail forever and in fact some use that very money to get out faster.

It’s tempting to want to do the same but it’s not right. No amount of money will clear your reputation and conscience after you’re locked up for stealing!

To be continued…