Gambling - Money Wasted

OK. The time has come to rant about the thing that annoys me the most – gambling. Casinos, bingo, slot machines, card tables – how they love to take your money. I do NOT support gambling but I live in the midst of a bunch of gambling addicts. The eternal dream; the hope of getting a big windfall is an elusive lure that keeps the owners very rich.

Things I have seen with gambling that have really annoyed (and saddened) me include:
1) People pleading for financial help to purchase prescribed medications and then being seen playing the slot machines at the casino.
2) People complaining that the welfare money they receive is not sufficient to support their family. They must use food banks, second hand clothing stores and live in the worst conditions. True – welfare rates do not provide the dignity of life that all people should enjoy. But many of the parents receiving welfare are seen at bingo halls and casinos after welfare day. It is a commonly discussed fact that the halls are busier at that particular time of the month. Where are the priorities? If the little welfare that is provided is squandered, where is the right to complain about the low quality of life that results?
3) Relatives standing in my kitchen saying they have no money to send overseas to their hungry relatives – and then leaving for the bingo hall and / or casino.
4) A person scooping all the money from her parents account to gamble at the casino. The elderly frail parents, who were out of the country at the time, had entrusted this adult child with their bank card so money could be sent to them as required. The return of the elderly parents was then delayed due to the lack of funds. Due to the over extended stay, their medical coverage and eligibility for continued social security programs was lost. The casino owner got his money.
5) A family breaks up with devastating results. The wife gambled away all savings and ran up huge gambling debts. The family home had to be sold to pay the debts. A separation followed (partly engineered by the adult children to protect their father) and the wife was left alone and devastated. The lure of the big winnings at the casino paid off well that time! The casino owner got his money.
6) A wife nearly running a business into the ground because of gambling. She looked after the financial management of the company while the husband did the hands on management. Unknown to him, she set up separate accounts and charge cards and ran up huge gambling debts. The husband found out by accident – he intercepted a call intended for her from a creditor seeking payment. The successful company nearly fell to the bricks because of gambling and the wife did hit the bricks. The husband escorted her to the door.

Oprah has had many sad gambling stories on her program. Every community where gambling exists has these sad stories. In the community where I live, a brand new bingo with slots is nearing completion. The casino (same owner) is increasing its space for slots – all to accommodate the people who love to donate their money to him.

Don’t get me wrong. If you have surplus funds to spend on gambling, that is fine. But the key word is “surplus” so that you are not relying on others to make up your shortfall or are not causing others to suffer because of your habit. If your children must suffer or go without because of your gambling, the gambling money is not surplus. If you or your children must go without medical or dental care because you need money for gambling, the money is not surplus. If your children must wear secondhand clothing and be ridiculed by other children so you can have money for gambling, the money is not surplus. If your children eat macaroni and cheese or yukdonalds rather than a healthy balanced diet so you can have money for gambling, the money is not surplus. If the gambling causes a rift between you and your partner, the money is not surplus. If you must steal the money from elderly parents or otherwise, the money is not surplus. Get the idea?

People suffer because of gambling. Who is to blame? Is it the government who allows gambling to exist and grow because it receives revenues from it? Is it the owner of the gambling establishments who is solely profit motivated? Is it the individual gambler who squanders away the money? Or is the responsibility shared?

People need to take responsibility for their own actions. Some people accept shifting the blame to the government or to the owner. However, it is the individual gambler who makes the decision to donate his money to gambling. The owners wish to elevate their lifestyle by taking your money. Nothing wrong with a solid business plan – even if it is to take the money of the poor and create social ills. Their business plan will fail if the customers, ie the gamblers, do not donate their money.

It is up to each individual. You choose – but you have no right to expect others to pick up the pieces after you when you voluntarily give your money away. You do have a responsibility to you children to give them the best start in life possible. Think of how you are helping your children as you press the button on the slot machine. Sit down and explain to them the great benefit you are giving them. Since gambling is so great, all parents who gamble have a responsibility to make sure their children are well versed in gambling so they can lead the same lifestyle. If it is great for you, it must also be great for your children!

One final comment – call it like it is. It is gambling. Some people I know refer going to the casino as going to school, going to the university or going for lessons. Doing that does not give gambling any more validity. It simply shows that these people don’t feel good about their addiction so they try to hide it or make a joke of it.

Anxiety Thing # 5 - Children and Obesity

Previous annoyances have discussed parents forcing children to smoke and parents contributing to children being at risk by not enforcing seat belt rules. This annoyance will continue with the parent / child theme.

Obesity and junk food. Obesity and lack of exercise. Obesity and children. Obesity causes diseases. There is sufficient advertising and information spread about to ensure every parent is aware of the connection between obesity and disease.

It causes me enough anxiety when adults drive themselves to medical disaster with their chosen lifestyle habits; the consumption of junk food being a major component of that drive. As the drive nears the medical disaster destination, the “rescue me” starts.

“I need to see my doctor. Give me drugs. Make me better. How could this happen to me? My great great aunt four times removed had a similar disease so it must run in the family. Give me my pills and let’s go to yukdonanlds. Grab that bag of cheezies on the way out . .. and, oh, and better take a bottle of soda for the drive.”

No wonder our children are obese. Parents just don’t care. They are so self focused. There is no way parents cannot be aware of the information about diet and disease; about the effect junk food has on our children; about the effect lack of exercise has on children’s health and about the escalating childhood disease rate in diseases such as diabetes. Unless the parents happen to be hermits – not many of those in this age of booming communication technology.

These parents tend to blame everybody except themselves. They blame the manufacturer for making the product available – The junk food product wouldn’t be available for long if nobody bought it. They blame the advertising – of course children want what they are told is good. They even blame the children – he wanted it or I had to give it to him to keep him quiet. And there are the parents who use the rationale that “he was so good, I had to give him a treat”. These parents need to learn that a treat every day of the week or several times a day is no longer a treat. It’s greasing the slide to early medical disaster.

There may be one positive note in all of this – if the parent is scoffing down the great amounts of the junk food herself, then by giving it to the child, she does not have to explain to the child why she can have it but not the child. And yes, some parents do hide the junk food in the house so they can eat it when the children are asleep.

I wonder if some parents actually believe they are being good parents by contributing to the onset of childhood diseases by stuffing their children with garbage. Or are they just too lazy or too self focused on their own lives to even care. I know that many parents would scream at me for this perspective – but I believe the screaming would only prove my point. Screaming would move the focus from what the issue really is. I also believe that actions speak louder than words – you can scream all you want but if the child is being primed for disease via junk food, you are filling the role. I also believe that mistreating your child in this fashion should be grounds for child abuse.

So what is your relationship with your child’s diet? How much responsibility are you willing to take when your child comes down with a lifestyle induced disease?