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The poison of greed - a rant about gambling
Brian
Detroit, MI Moderator
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/14/lottery.winners.fall.ap/index.html
It seems like when people win the lottery, it destroys their lives.
It also doesn't help all the millions of people that DON'T win. Some people spend hundreds of dollars a month on the lottery for nothing. And it's never the comfortable upper-middle class that plays the lottery, it's always the poorer people.
On that same note, go into a casino that's not in Vegas and the majority of the people you see are poorer, definitely not high rollers. A casino gets built in an economically depressed area like detroit, and the politicians and wealthy businessmen say "Oh it's gonna be such a great boost to detroit - millions of dollars a year in tax revenue" - without mentioning where the bulk of that money is coming from - the very people that the money is supposedly helping. Sure, the downtown area has a few new restaurants and some shiny new sidewalks. But the residential part of the city is still exactly the same.
I've been to a casino probably three times in my life, and each time I walked out with less money, and feeling very hollow and "used".
It seems like when people win the lottery, it destroys their lives.
It also doesn't help all the millions of people that DON'T win. Some people spend hundreds of dollars a month on the lottery for nothing. And it's never the comfortable upper-middle class that plays the lottery, it's always the poorer people.
On that same note, go into a casino that's not in Vegas and the majority of the people you see are poorer, definitely not high rollers. A casino gets built in an economically depressed area like detroit, and the politicians and wealthy businessmen say "Oh it's gonna be such a great boost to detroit - millions of dollars a year in tax revenue" - without mentioning where the bulk of that money is coming from - the very people that the money is supposedly helping. Sure, the downtown area has a few new restaurants and some shiny new sidewalks. But the residential part of the city is still exactly the same.
I've been to a casino probably three times in my life, and each time I walked out with less money, and feeling very hollow and "used".
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Comments
...but if I won it...
to see how many of these "friends" of mine who have brushed me off, ignored me, or treated me badly and recently decided to start ignoring me suddenly started calling again
I know that my home town, Aurora, was the 4th largest town in Illinois and running head long into a gang and drug town becasue the bad guys were leaving Chicago to the suburbs....
When the river boat came.... the city was actually able to resurect the downtown, brought a college to the downtown, redid roads, created a swat team, anti-drug force, blah, blah.... But the average riverboat guest was lower income... bankrupcy in Aurora went up, so did domestic violence.... go figure.
I have seen the exact same effect with the various indian casinos i have been to. Everyone there is so poor and they keep gambling their money away... its sad really.
When I was in vegas a few months ago I lost about $30 and I would say that I didn't really mind it because it was such a small amount and I tried to have some fun but anything more than that would certainly be another story.
How can people not see this? Money and greed are just killing us all
1) Constantly being arrested and investigated for drugs and alcohol offenses
2) Constantly having his homes and vehicles broken into
3) An 18 year old died at his house at a party. Under investigation
4) His wife is miserable and wishes he hadn't won the lotto
5) His granddaughter just died from an OD
I'm not saying at all that the money caused any of these things. What I am suggesting is that he probably thought playing and winning the lotto was some sort of goal. Everyone seems to think "Wow... If I won the lotto, all my problems would be gone, I would be happy for the rest of my life"... And what I am suggested is- stop, look for a second, at the man who DID win.. Look at how much UNHAPPINESS is in his life right now.
I feel sorry for him and his whole family.
I also feel sorry that these things happened to him....but I don't feel sorry for him because he won the lottery, that just seems like a crazy thing to say
He has donated a few million, by the way... If I won the lottery, I would spend 25% and then lock away the rest so no one could get it. Live off the interest and donate a large sum, setup very strict trust funds, scholarships.... I have a hard time keeping one house of 1,800 sq ft clean.... No need to buy a house with 8 bedrooms or whatever, wouldn't want that many just to avoid having people stay....
As with Ricky Williams, formally, of the Miami Dolphin's... he's broke. HOW CAN HE BE BROKE after all the money he was given? WASTED away... I just want to be comfortable and be able to provide for my family.
So, Seeing as his grandson's were of legal age my granfather decided to take the family down for a fun afternoon.
Upon arrival everyone was handed a 20 dollar note in order to gamble.
Being upon the path I saw the experience a good chance to practice my patience and I just walked around the casino and 'was' with my family. Smiling when they won and smiling when they lost.
After a good three hours we walked out of the casino and I tryed to give the 20 back to my grandfather.
"You mean you were in there for three hours and didn't gamble!"
To which I (you guessed it) smiled.
The reason I say all this is because:
The level of suffering in the casino was high because the pepole in their have such a clear idea as to what constitutes a 'good' result and a 'bad' result. Further plowing themselves into samsara.
Money itself is not negative - it is only the way we approach things that seem 'to give' them these properties. The properties are, in fact, ourselves.
Dust on the no-mirror.
And don't forget folks, it's not:
"Money is the root of all Evil" but "The LOVE of money, is the root of all evil....."
"Money Talks....."
"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Thank goodness we have a reasonable set of quotations to counter-balance this depressing little lot - !!
gamble.... lose....Laugh.....leave......scary, you are!!
It is fantasy piled on illusion stacked atop delusion.
The fantasy is the tiny possibility of winning. Our attention focuses in the future and a future based on "if....." rather than on the world as it is.
The illusion is the illusion of money and the myth of the marketplace.
And the delusion is that by buying a ticket I may avoid the First Noble Truth and my need to uncover and examine the roots of my suffering.
And the powers-that-be collude with, even encourage this defilement.
Thrangu Rinpoche speaks of the five poisons which provoke the obscuration of disturbing emotions: attachment,aggression, delusion, pride and jealousy. All five of these demon children of Mara arise in the gambler. How can we be surprised that addiction can follow?
^gassho^
And in extinguishing these formations, you model the beauty of stillness to them.
absolutely. this is why I stated" where my experience lies!" As I have stated: I am a recovering addict I have been clean and sober for more than fifteen years now. but just stopping the abuse of my system was not enough. the craving still existed. and so I am here and at my local Zen center, reading everything I can get my eyes on. my mind is the root of my suffering. my comparative subject/object, egoic mind. seeking now as I do to dig with the shovel rather than have the shovel dig with me!
^gassho^
Just so, I believe, in our recovery. We were the creatures of our addiction and then, insh'Allah, our addiction became our tool. But all that time, we remained attached to our addiction. We might believe that we can be free, we can have faith but only practice will transform those into knowledge. The day can come when we look at our addiction and watch it become what it has always been, a constellation of co-arisings, empty of identity.
Only when we mix the egg with the lemon juice and beat in the oil, a drop at a time, do they become a mayonnaise. Anyone can do that, but it takes a chemist to analyse the resultant emulsion to re-establish its components. In my own life, I am finding, in glimpses, that my Dharma practice is the lab in which I identify and neutralise the ingredients. But I had to stop beating it first!
What you posted says almost exactly what I was going to post! LOL! As long as I quit complicating things, they turn out the way they are supposed to.
Adiana
Until all the facts are in, are you sure that there is no envy in your anger?
There are a lot of aspects to our system which leave a lot to be desired. Getting off the subject a little, childcare here is cheaper for women who stay at home and more costly for women who work....
I can agree that is could be a good cause win...