I just saw this in class yesterday. I wanted to say that this can be compared to religion. The town just knew that each year they had to participate in this "Lottery" because it was believed to bring good crops. But how do they really know if that's true? The old man was even bickering when the lady mentioned that the other towns stopped doing this. Back to why i'm comparing it to religion is that people just say their religion is right and true because that's what they grew up knowing. But if you really think about it there are millions of other people born into their families form of true religion and some born without one at all. So whose to say for example Christianity is right? Christians will say stuff like gays are bad, eating pork is wrong, and wearing two types of fabrics is a sin. But is that really right? Lastly the old man even said how the "young people" are changing things. Maybe that's what we really need to evolve.