Gambling away culture

Today's Boston Globe has a story that looks at how states have jumped into the casino-gambling game in the past 15 years. With the Supreme Court's 1987 ruling that Native American tribes could legally operate gaming enterprises, state governments realized that hundreds of millions of dollars were changing hands within their borders and the states weren't getting a slice of it.

Governors and legislatures around the country passed laws and negotiated with tribes for a part of the action. The Globe story specifically looks at Florida, where the Seminole tribe has run casinos for the past few years. The Sunshine State recently reached an agreement with the tribe for a cut. Gov. Patrick, the article says, has jumped out ahead of the issue and embraced the idea of casinos because he wants Massachusetts to reap some benefits from the start.

Aside from that, there were a few things in the story that I think are a sad commentary on modern American culture. One member of the Seminole Tribal Council said:

"We used to be able to live on the game from the land. Now we're living on the gaming on the land. It's a different commodity that we now have to manage. We used to hunt deer. Now we're hunting deals."

If the Indian in the old commercial shed a tear when trash was tossed from the window of a passing car, imagine his reaction to hearing that? What a depressing and pathetic state of affairs.

Then there are these words, from a 63-year-old woman who lost $100 and then won $400 in the span of a few minutes in a Florida casino:

"I've done Disney for like nine years - I get bored. The older generation doesn't have a lot to do. It's here, it's tempting."

Where do I begin? There was a time when the wisdom of a culture's elders meant everything, and parents and grandparents lived in extended families. Old age was a time of great respect and pride. Now we abandon the elderly and dismiss our cultural history. With so much time on their hands and no role in our society, senior citizens look for any diversion possible. I'm not sure if it's more disturbing to see the rows of elderly women lined up at slot machines or the fact that this particular person visited Disney World nine times before getting bored.

And then there is another issue. A recent study concluded that there are 35 million people who are hungry in America -- that's right now, and in this country. How we casually gamble money away or buy unnecessary consumer goods and still manage to sleep at night is beyond me.