I Call Your Bet and Raise You My Daughter!
I woke up this afternoon and read on here.
At first I found it strange and even humorous in a sinister way. But then I read that this happened over a decade ago in Pakistan. That information made the news more real, more believable because I couldn’t fathom this happening now. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this incident was very real, even in these times.
For me, when I think of the early nineties, I am reminded of VHS tapes, walkmans, brick-sized cellphones, MC Hammer, and 90 mhz Pentium computers. The nostalgia of the time is humorous to me, but when I think back to my life in the nineties, at least what I remember of it, the nineties becomes less of a joke. And I think this is because no matter how many new advancements the world takes, people are still people in the end, and this story about a Pakistani guy losing his daughter in a poker game is about human nature, something that has remained basically unchanged. Throughout history, instances of selling children as sex slaves and slaves has been prevalent and still goes on today. Although this incident is not quite the same, it still strikes me as horrible that someone could wager their own child.
Lately I’ve been reading the Brother’s Karamazov, so I keep thinking about the about the story and relating it to everything. There is a part about the suffering of children and whether they should or not. Unfortunately I do not remember the section where Dostoevsky writes about this, so I cannot detail his character’s arguments on the subject. Instead I’ll just leave off with a question. Should children suffer?
poker, losing daughter in a poker game, nineties nostalgia
February 27th, 2007 at 6:15 am
WAhahaha… your title totally killed me!
February 27th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Very sobering isn’t it, Richard? There are things going on this world that are certainly far from modern.
February 28th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Man, I’m having the same problem tracking back to your blog. seems like I’ll have to do it manually too.