I will win once and then repay everyone...

"I will win once and repay everyone..." – The silent trap of the person caught in gambling He sat firmly beside the gambling table. Red eyes. Shaking hands. Wife crying. Child calling. But his face was indifferent, like someone unrelated. Outsiders often say: "Apathetic." "Cruel." "Surely no longer cares for anyone." But if you look deeper, you will see something even more dangerous than indifference: a person who still cares, but cares in a distorted and blurred way to the point of destruction. In his mind at that moment, there is no longer a present. There is only one haunting mantra that repeats: "Just win one match... I will return everything." Gambling addicts are not unaware of their mistakes. They are just living in a redemptive dream. They see themselves losing, they see themselves being terrible, but they believe that if they just try a little harder, play one more round, turn the game around one more time, they will start over, they will correct their mistakes, they will repay their debts. They do not live in the present. They live in an illusion of the future where they become heroes. And that dream paralyzes their emotions. Not because they don't care. But because their minds are in another world: where victory will erase all mistakes. Many of them even believe that they have experience. "I know how to play." "I'm not as stupid as others." "I used to get it before." "It's just that lately the timing hasn't been right." They don't think they are lucky; they think they are skilled. They don't see themselves as taking risks but as playing a strategy. They don the cloak of an experienced person, and from there, shut out all advice as if it were an interference in a reasonable plan. It is that very confidence that does not awaken them, but rather binds them deeper. For once they believe they are in control of the game, they will not stop, even though reality has already been shattered. They tell themselves: "I am doing the right thing even if it is the wrong way." "Enduring hardship now is fine, as long as I can repay tenfold later." "I am not abandoning anyone, I am trying to save everyone." But in reality, they are not gambling with money. They are gambling with the trust of their loved ones, with the childhood of their children, and with their own humanity. The most frightening thing is that they do not see themselves as frightening. The loop keeps swallowing them. Lose, then blame yourself. Blame yourself and then don't dare to face it. If you don't dare to face it, then turn off your emotions. Turn off emotions and cause more harm. Causing harm makes them have to take down to compensate. Every time they can't get out, they sink deeper. And from some point unnoticed, they no longer feel the pain of those around them, including their own. They thought that playing one more time was hope, but in reality, it was a deeper dig into the pit of despair. In the Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters, the Buddha teaches: "The ignorant person does evil thinking it is good, just as pouring oil into the fire makes the suffering worse." Gambling addicts are often not ruthless people. But when they believe in something wrong as if it were right, they become harmful... without realizing it. Why are they apathetic? Because they believe that what they are doing is to "save". Because they thought they would fix everything with a great victory. Because they forget: there are things lost that cannot be resolved with money. If you are next to a person like that, please don't think they don't have a heart. They do. But that heart is trapped in a prison of misguided hope. They do not need another punch to their self-esteem. They need a gaze that is deep enough, calm enough, and compassionate enough to see that they are going astray. Each hand they think is to recover, is actually tearing apart the pieces of their own familial love. No one needs them to win. They just need to be sober. Because there are things… that cannot be redeemed with money. And in the end, the outcome of gambling is no exception to the law of cause and effect. If you have taken the wrong path, no matter how beautiful the dream is, it cannot lead you to the right place. The dream of "repaying with a victory" sounds noble, but when it is sown from ambition, deceit, evading responsibility, and hurting others..., the result can only be loss, harm, and destruction. No one can reap peace from a path that erodes trust. No one saves their loved ones by burning their future to hold on to their own illusions. If one could awaken, the first thing to let go of is not the gambling table, but the dream of redemption through a path deviating from the Dao. Only then can one truly return to the present where there is a wife, children, and parents waiting. Not to seek gratitude. But it only takes... one person to be enough awake. It's not that they don't care. But because they are lost in a dream that will repay with a victory that can never happen! (Credits: Đàm Thị Như Quỳnh)