Dear Editor,
Gaming/Gambling
Gaming/Gambling is like certain farts…..silent, intangible but deadly.
However, the entrapments and effects linger for generations.
Other islands are gifted with resources that can be seen, manipulated, extracted, manufactured and exported. These are their tangible assets.
We, in AXA, we are gifted with an intangible one – ‘Tranquility’. It can’t be packaged and exported. It is real (ask anyone stepping off a ferry boat), but is invisible.
This invisibility makes it prone to being forgotten, taken for granted and even neglected (for this I ask God’s forgiveness).
Currently, there is need for us to consciously and intentionally cherish, protect and preserve this intangible asset. Our gift cannot be destroyed by a bulldozer but elements like gaming which are similar to some farts (silent but deadly), when allowed in, creep from underneath and seek to unravel the fine, one of a kind atmosphere of Tranquility bequeathed to us.
Will generations to come inherit it from us?
As opinions were sought last week on the gaming potential in Anguilla, I was at one such meeting and here is a comment and a question made in the meeting, and my reflective position:
“Gaming is a very fat (profitable) industry in comparison to other industries.”
Question is, are we into fat or lean meat?
Isn’t healthier eating, along with going green, proving to give quality and quantity of life to us and our planet? Even though it might require adjustments in the short-term?
“What is the church doing to help those negatively affected by gaming?”
In countries where oil is extracted, oil companies must set aside a certain amount of money to deal with potential oil spills and removal of oil rigs once extraction is depleted.
Now, governments know there will be children unfed, families broken up, jobs lost, businesses lost, houses, vehicles and other assets repossessed once gaming is allowed, but yet no contingencies are in put in place! However, the same ‘church’ which opposed legalizing of the lottery/gaming then posed the question, what are you doing about its ill effects on society?
And, even if contingencies are in place, should government be inviting in this snake of an industry that is proven to make people lose considerably more than they make – and one which causes havoc for many individuals and families?
Yes, government is applauded for making attempts to increase national revenue but it is not applauded for unknowingly, or knowingly, increasing vices in the land. In my opinion, any increase in revenue that will ultimately undermine and destroy our God-given gift of Tranquility should be rejected.
Our think tanks need to love Anguilla more than money and resist trying to be like everybody else. Can’t we designate our local or international think tanks to generate profitable but ‘Tranquility Proof’ revenue generating ideas? Asking them to display radical innovativeness, and creativity which speaks to a fresh idea that is unique to the region, and maybe the world, but aligned with cherishing and preserving Anguilla’s Tranquility?
I refuse to believe that there are no novel ideas left which AXA can embark upon. Case in point: three years ago a young female student from MIT created an algorithm which several days ago enabled a picture to be taken of a black hole. Many had said, “impossible”….but not now. Ideas are out there!
Our current creative and innovative laziness needs to change.
It is quite easy to piggy back on existing ideas and be incremental in innovating them. But however gambling is creatively packaged, whether from street level to 7 Star back room lounges, it’s bite is always highly venomous. Is there an antidote for our ‘Tranquility’ if it is permitted to be bitten into?
Loving Anguilla,
Avenella Griffith
