Saturday, September 22, 2012

Happiness Blog Post

I chose to respond to the question #3 letter a.

“A gambler who has lost all evening makes one last bet with money that has been saved for the down payment on a house and wins back twice the sum. Could you justify the risk?” To me, he never should have made the bet. He didn’t look at the long-term risk. He mad a Hedonism move. He thought of nothing but of what he wanted in that moment. And many people would say that making that move was okay, but I say that he shouldn’t have done it. I’m sure he had been saving for that money for a long time, and then he bet it all away. The odds were against him and although he won, he easily could have lost it all.
            This man is clearly a hedonist. He bet his entire down payment on one bet, and got lucky enough to win. If he had lost, he would have been devastated. If I were in this situation, there is no way I would have done that. I am all for looking and planning ahead. I am more of a believer of Epicureanism. This gambler should have thought about his decision and the effects that would come with it if he lost instead of only thinking about the moment. He was extremely lucky that he won, but there is no way to justify his risk.
            Life can be about taking risks, but not risks as big as he took. I believe in taking risks, but in moderation. Personally, I only take risks if there is a good chance that there is a good outcome to the risk. This gambler had all odds against him, yet he still took the risk. In this situation the risk was not in his favor.  You have to take risks to live in this world, no doubt about it, but those risks have to be realistic. 

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