Patriot Realm

" I have many vices but thankfully gambling is not one of them."

I wrote this as a comment on the blog a while ago and I was alerted to the fact that this was, in actual fact a strange thing to say.

I had to step back and consider this statement. A comment, made in haste, suddenly put under the microscope of public opinion.

The keywords of course are vice and gambling.

So, what is a vice and what is a gamble?

The person who brought my attention to the flaw in my hurried and rather foolish statement was right.

Every day on earth, every day of life is a gamble.

We roll the dice and make decisions that may affect our lives henceforth.

From the trip down to the store to pick up groceries, cat food, toilet paper or toothpaste – it is all a gamble.

We gamble every day of our lives.

I read a book a long time ago called " The Dice Man . " It was written in 1971 and told the story of a man who rolled a dice and lived out his day, according to what the dice threw up.

The book tells the story.of a psychologist named Luke, who, feeling bored and unfulfilled in life, starts making decisions.based on a roll of a die. Along the way, there is sex, rape, murder, 'dice parties', breakouts by psychiatric patients, and various corporate and governmental machines being put into a spin. There is also a description of the cult that starts to develop around the man, and the psychological research he initiates, such as the 'F**k without Fear for Fun and Profit' programme.

When I read it I remember thinking that I was relieved that I never felt the need to surrender my decisions to the roll of a dice: that I was perfectly happy with my life as it was rolling and how I had all my cards on the table. 

At that time, I was young, 10 feet tall and bullet proof.  What need did I have for a game of chance when my future was so solidly mapped out in front of me? I was attractive, intelligent, well educated and comfortable in my own skin. What need did I have for taking risks and punting on a random event that could change my day? Or, as a result of that day, my future?

Little did I realise that every day we make decisions that can influence our futures. 

To walk to a particular shop or corner and meet a person with whom we fall in love, have children, argue, divorce and create a dysfunctional future that began as a decision to walk to the corner store.

Yes. I am and have always been a gambler. Since the day I left the protective apron strings and loving arms of my mother, I became a gambler.

We gamble when we wake up in the morning and walk to the toilet and gamble that our beloved pet cat or dog does not dart in front of our path and trip us over. We gamble that we will not be killed or injured when we sit in our car and head to visit our loved ones and hope that they, or we, will not become ill or die because we have some virus that may or may not infect the… or us.

We gamble every time we open our door to a stranger and hope that they will not pull a knife or come in and violate us or our home.

Yes, my poster was right. I am a gambler.

I gambled the moment I woke up as a young woman and gained the ability to think for myself. I gambled on my parents knowing what was best for me. I gambled on knowing how to think for myself and make decisions as an adult.

HOWEVER.

I do not and have not gambled for money. I do not gamble on someone or someone else's chance of success or failure. I gamble on the roll of the dice in MY life and I do not win or lose because of a horse or a dog or a cane toad or a sports team winning or losing.

I gamble on my life.

So I find it difficult when politicians decide to gamble with my life and do so with very high stakes.

Along the road that is my life, I have picked up these things called " vices. "

They are strange things ; they depend upon perception and on who is deciding what a vice is. 

What a web of rabbit holes and wonder vice brings up.

What is vice?  

Apparently, it is a bad moral habit. Something for which we should be ashamed and shunned, should you be someone who is judging you and part of the morally superior lot that currently control social media, MSM and our halls of government.

It all comes down to whose morality or whose standards  for which it is shunned.

According to Islamic Law I am suffering from vices because I imbibe alcohol.  Well, that is me over the limit of my social credit score..

I rather like Jesus Christ – ditto, above, that is me off to the naughty corner..

I think Jews are good people and I applaud the courage of Israel.

Well , that is another tick in the vice box of a bad moral habit.

I also enjoy swearing. If I get angry, I have been known to use certain bad moral habits and use words that cannot be published here without the ### in between certain letters.

Another bad moral habit I have is that I don’t agree with lockdowns, vaccines or the removal of human rights.

That is a biggie. A very big bad moral habit.

So, I have to wonder, am I a gambler or am I suffering from vices?

I have to plead guilty to both.

I am a gambler. I actually live. I gamble every day.

Do I have vices? Yes, I do. I live every day.

Do I gamble for money?

No, I don’t.

According to our overlords, they are allowed to gamble with my life.

They are allowed to have vices of their choosing. But I am not because these things might be, in their opinion, bad for me. 

In my book, life is a gamble. All we can do is play our best hand and hope for the best. 

Life is full of vices that can be seen as virtues, should you sit on the other side of the societal Great Divide.

A vice or a virtue? That is the gamble we take and make when we sit at the table and play our cards. 

For me, my problem is that I do not trust the dealer and I suspect that the house will always win. 

It is no longer a fair game. " They " are playing with a stacked deck. 

 Footnote: Was this the biggest gamble ever made?  I will leave it up to you to decide.