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Essay: "Gambling"

We Live A Gamble Everyday

I don't really care about gambling, because I don't do it. Gambling has cost a lot of people's lives, heads split, holes in them, or shot up. Gambling is sometimes the start of a problem. Somebody will jack if they lose too much or a fight is likely to break out. These forms of bad sportsmanship are more likely to happen when there is tension already in the air. I've always told myself that a large crowd is a bad crowd. But if all parties are good sportsmen, it's alright to gamble.

Gambling is a form of hustling, or a fast way to make money. It is legal, depending on where you are and what you're doing. But if we really look at it, everybody gambles. Everyday we wake up, either driving or walking or sitting down in the yard, we're taking a gamble. Anything can happen by accident: a stray bullet, drunk driver, a car jack, robbery. There is no guarantee, not even with sex. One can get the 'lick' or hepatitis C- a non-curable disease- from sex or from a blood transfusion. So, you see, we live a gamble everyday- from waking up in the morning and being able to go to sleep again at night, hoping that you will make it through another day. So I guess you can say that gambling is more than just winning or losing, it's also life and death. And that, I feel, is the meaning of "gambling."

-Tim Hampton