A conundrum...
My mother called me today before I got on the train to come home from Baruch. She asked me to pick up a lotto ticket for her. It's apparently going for $200 million or some outlandish figure. I told her that I don't gamble, I don't agree with her throwing her money away, and if she wanted a lotto ticket she would have to pick it up herself. I also agreed to picking up two slices of pizza for her and my brother. Once I came above ground on the 7 train, I checked my voicemail. My dad had also called me, asking me to pick up three lotto tickets for him. I called him back and told him I wouldn't. He explained how it's on my way home, and he's too busy right now to get them himself. I told him pretty much the same thing I had said to my mother, to which he abruptly said good bye and hung up.
I really don't agree with gambling. Anyone who knows me knows I don't play games of chance. When the gambling epidemic grasped Stuy by the wallet, the only game I would play for money is Chinese Poker, which involves more inert skill than most card games. (Texas Hold 'em is excluded because, as far as I understand, there is an insane amount of skill that goes into that game; not just bluffing and other tricks restricted to cards, but a degree of mathematics.) Like that horrid game show "Deal or No Deal," I abhor games that run simply on luck, finding them stupid and pointless. The lottery falls into the same category.
Apparently a lottery ticket only goes for $1, and I know that isn't a large sum of money, but I feel like my mom goes through life scraping and penny-pinching, so it seems beyond foolish that she would be ready to expend any sum of money for the lottery. Playing the lottery, I feel, is akin to setting money on fire--the odds ensure that you're simply throwing it away.
I'm torn over refusing to buy lottery tickets for my mom because I know I'm against it, but does that mean I have to extend my personal morals into my interactions with others? It would have made my mom's life easier if I would have just bought the tickets for her and spared her the trouble of having to get dressed and go out herself. This seems like a minor issue, a squabble over a few dollars, but what about the same idea extended over longer terms, greater actions? If you believe something is wrong should you aid people in doing that same thing if they so wish? The obvious answer seems like, no, of course not; do what you believe is right and follow it through, but I don't feel like it's nearly that simple. For example, I'm a vegetarian. (It's true.) But I still pick up McDonald's or Burger King or any other garbage my family still feels like eating. I do it as a courtesy. I have moral qualms against eating meat produced by agribusiness, but I help them because it makes their lives significantly easier. They don't live their lives the same way I do, and do I have the right to make their lives more difficult because they aren't congruent to my own?
So what'd you think? Am I "right on" in my actions? Should I get off of my high horse?
There was also a woman handing out PETA fliers near school today. I'm debating getting a bunch from her the next time I see her and leaving a few at work, maybe at home. How'd you feel about that? Propaganda much?
I really don't agree with gambling. Anyone who knows me knows I don't play games of chance. When the gambling epidemic grasped Stuy by the wallet, the only game I would play for money is Chinese Poker, which involves more inert skill than most card games. (Texas Hold 'em is excluded because, as far as I understand, there is an insane amount of skill that goes into that game; not just bluffing and other tricks restricted to cards, but a degree of mathematics.) Like that horrid game show "Deal or No Deal," I abhor games that run simply on luck, finding them stupid and pointless. The lottery falls into the same category.
Apparently a lottery ticket only goes for $1, and I know that isn't a large sum of money, but I feel like my mom goes through life scraping and penny-pinching, so it seems beyond foolish that she would be ready to expend any sum of money for the lottery. Playing the lottery, I feel, is akin to setting money on fire--the odds ensure that you're simply throwing it away.
I'm torn over refusing to buy lottery tickets for my mom because I know I'm against it, but does that mean I have to extend my personal morals into my interactions with others? It would have made my mom's life easier if I would have just bought the tickets for her and spared her the trouble of having to get dressed and go out herself. This seems like a minor issue, a squabble over a few dollars, but what about the same idea extended over longer terms, greater actions? If you believe something is wrong should you aid people in doing that same thing if they so wish? The obvious answer seems like, no, of course not; do what you believe is right and follow it through, but I don't feel like it's nearly that simple. For example, I'm a vegetarian. (It's true.) But I still pick up McDonald's or Burger King or any other garbage my family still feels like eating. I do it as a courtesy. I have moral qualms against eating meat produced by agribusiness, but I help them because it makes their lives significantly easier. They don't live their lives the same way I do, and do I have the right to make their lives more difficult because they aren't congruent to my own?
So what'd you think? Am I "right on" in my actions? Should I get off of my high horse?
There was also a woman handing out PETA fliers near school today. I'm debating getting a bunch from her the next time I see her and leaving a few at work, maybe at home. How'd you feel about that? Propaganda much?