Reflections of a gambler
Yesterday I noticed that there was another Aspie across the poker table from me. I'd reckon he's about twenty-eight years old, obviously a professional poker player. Indeed, at one point, another player asked him, with a trace of bitter sarcasm, "You play this game every day?" and he said yes. He does play very well.
Whenever that happens, I'm struck by the tragedy of it all. Gambling is totally nonproductive and it reeks of sin. There are so many things that that young man could be doing that would be so much more useful and fulfilling, but because of the way neurotypical society works, he'd have to put up with so much crap that he's driven to play poker for a living instead.
Me too, of course. But when I'm the only Aspie at a poker table, I don't have the same sense of tragedy. If I think about it at all, I think that society is making a stupid mistake by demanding that we jump through so many irrelevant hoops as a condition of participation in the mainstream economy. But of course there's no one who can correct that mistake, simply because the collective consciousness of society is so diffuse. And if there were someone who could correct the mistake, he'd most likely correct it by doing away with gambling to close our escape hatch, or by changing the nature of gambling so that an ordinary player couldn't consistently win.
So as it is, I'm just happy to have found this niche. I'd be happier, though, to have the same lifestyle without gambling. I enjoy doing good, and playing poker just isn't like that - quite the opposite in fact. I do less of it than I should, just for that reason. It's way near the bottom of my list of things to do on any given day - way below my participation in this community, and even below wash and ironing. At least I'm in no danger of becoming addicted.
Whenever that happens, I'm struck by the tragedy of it all. Gambling is totally nonproductive and it reeks of sin. There are so many things that that young man could be doing that would be so much more useful and fulfilling, but because of the way neurotypical society works, he'd have to put up with so much crap that he's driven to play poker for a living instead.
Me too, of course. But when I'm the only Aspie at a poker table, I don't have the same sense of tragedy. If I think about it at all, I think that society is making a stupid mistake by demanding that we jump through so many irrelevant hoops as a condition of participation in the mainstream economy. But of course there's no one who can correct that mistake, simply because the collective consciousness of society is so diffuse. And if there were someone who could correct the mistake, he'd most likely correct it by doing away with gambling to close our escape hatch, or by changing the nature of gambling so that an ordinary player couldn't consistently win.
So as it is, I'm just happy to have found this niche. I'd be happier, though, to have the same lifestyle without gambling. I enjoy doing good, and playing poker just isn't like that - quite the opposite in fact. I do less of it than I should, just for that reason. It's way near the bottom of my list of things to do on any given day - way below my participation in this community, and even below wash and ironing. At least I'm in no danger of becoming addicted.