Gambling

We are enjoying the night at home.  Next year having this particular night at home will be a thing of the past.  So we are enjoying it while we can.
On tv there are a couple of shows we like tonight.  We have just watched Gruen.  It is one we both enjoy.  I have seen the reason advertising works but appreciate there is so much more that goes into it than I realized.
Tonight’s show was all about the amount of gambling ads on right now.  They reckon that gambling went up over 300% during covid.  A couple of the panellists originally made an association I had never thought of.  They saw “broke” in the word Ladbrokes.  One person thought it referenced the lads getting broke.  Even the phrase “gamble responsibly” was born in a casino.
I think I have mentioned how one of the guys I worked with was gambling small amounts to see what would happen.  He started with $100 and it was $70 something a number of years later.  Another show I saw said forget gambling just send us your money.
I must admit I have never associated sport with gambling but there is a whole generation growing up as seeing them as going together.  Not many really cared who kicked the first goal until it became a gamble.
A lot of people gamble and it is not a problem.  A lot of people gamble and it is.  One of the reasons on-line gambling is so insidious is that it can be done alone.  Impulses are less likely to be restrained.  It is also one of the reasons gambling and the pub are so intertwined.  Drinking encourages the casting off of restraint.
I am not one to single out one problem as the problem above all others.  I see excessive gambling or gambling addiction as a problem.  One offs are one thing.  Habits are another.
To me anything taken to extreme can be a problem.  Even doing good in a particular situation can be a problem when it is done at the expense of other needful activities.  For example, if I am doing good for others and my family is neglected, balance has been lost and the consequences are likely not to be good.
I like that there are seasons.  If it were always summer, it would be a problem.  Or if it was always winter I would long for change.
I am just not a gambler.  Many are.  That just makes me different that is all.  To me everyone has strong and weak points.  What is a problem for me, may not be for someone else.  But they are sure to have their own areas of battle.
I read the other day something like “how good a physician is, is often determined by the cleanness of the wound.”  Scars are often a talking point.  It says I had a problem in this area, but it was fixed.  Everyone has areas to be fixed.  The cleanness of the wound initially determines if the physician is recommended or not.