No:65-01

October 01,2022

" Show me a gambler and i'll show you a loser!" - Mario Puzo

I was awaken by a commotion in the neighborhood around 1 am . My husband went to the store to take a peek in the window to see what is happening. Geez it was my neighbors having a fist fight. They are my relatives actually and they are both drunk.

They are siblings , and they were trying to pacify and be restrain by their youngest brother. They are all young adult and living together in one roof.

I don't know the reason why they are fighting but it's a common scene whenever they are drunk. They are nice people actually when not intoxicated by alcohol but a different one when drunk. All their anger and frustrations in life they want to pour out when intoxicated losing control of their faculties.

The youngest whose trying so hard to pacify them for minutes got pissed and get two knives in the kitchen and asked his two brothers to go on and kill each other if they don't want to calm down. I think the other one got back to his senses and stop.

My husband tried to talk to the other one and asked him to leave his brother for the meantime coz he was so furious they might really kill each other in the process. So after almost an hour , huhu the dispute stops. It was already 2 am.

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Just to have a little background of them. They are 6 siblings 5 boys and 1 girl. 5 of them have their own families. The bachelor one , let me call him Onin was one of those who had a fight with his brother last night. He's a nice guy , kindhearted and had lots of dreams. He used to be my husband's co-worker but resigned a year prior to pandemic.

During the pandemic while others had no jobs , Onin was fortunate enough to land a job in a cable and internet company. Internet connections was on it's highest peak , demand was so high , Onin was able to raised enough funds in a short span of time. He was able to change their roofings into trusses amounting to 70k. He provide for his families needs as well as his nephews and nieces.

He also planned to marry his co-worker at that time. Everything fell into places. He told me that he's just saving enough for him to settle for good with his girlfriend. He's planning to fix their house little by little in preparation for their planned union.

Not until ... Online Sabong or Online Cockfight was introduced and became a trend during pandemic. He started to gamble and got hooked on it. First it was blissful as he was winning quite a sum of money , 20k upto a 100k.

After work he would go to his pals playing Online Sabong while drinking. It became his routine. His winnings lured him more to play . As Onin want to "Sweeten the pot" or increase his winnings he keep on gambling.

Days and months had passed and his luck runs out. His relationship with his girlfriend was affected that eventually turn to break up. His hard earned salaries was spent to gambling too.

The company his working with, required him to get a professional driver's license. Fortunately he won a good sum that time and asked me to keep the amount for him to get a drivers license. My husband too was about to get his driver's license that time , so Onin said that he will take it together with my husband.

He handed me 11k for the drivers license but after a few days he get the money from me. I found out that he betted the money and lose it. So ending my husband have his license now and Onin does not.

Early this year , Onin attempted suicide. Luckily my husband was able talk to him and handed him the knife. We found out that he owned a huge amount of money coz of gambling. He lost his job too , he was terminated. And now he is suffering from anxiety and depressions coz of everything that had happened to him.

Just last week , he went home drunk , telling us that his use to be friends are now unrespectful to him. He felt like he was dump coz he has no money unlike before.

Then the occurence of last night fight with his brother. He's into mental stress and seem to freak out with little things. The used to be cool and forgiving man , now turn to a short tempered and hateful man.

Am i going to blame him for his life now? Or the society we are living in? The order of the former President to stop Online Sabong permanently brought hope to his family that somehow he will not go back to gambling and cut his losses.

In Conclusion

As best gambler know that the house will always win , it was designed in favor of the house or else there will be no casinos existing right now. No online betting games or the like. The gambler as always will run dry his luck and so before it happens , you should quit ahead of time.

Gambling is an addictive activity that one can get into. It can ruin your life . It is like a disease , where one may be addicted but your whole family will suffer the consequences. Just like what happened to Onin. He live his life with false hopes . Too late to get back to his girlfriend coz she has a new one now. No job , no money and no friends.

Should i say better luck next time? Or be brave enough to reorganize his life, besides it's not too late to start all over again. Back to square one.

Thank you for your time readers. To all my sponsors " Salamat ng marami!" love you all!

Lead image from Unsplash

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