We all associate gambling with fun, excitement, and enjoyment
There is a reason why casinos are brightly lit and has fast paced music. The overall idea of gambling should be energetic and exhilarating. Well, in my country, you might find gambling in a less thrilling environment such as a funeral.
Yes, it is very common in my country that whenever there is a funeral there will be people playing cards and gambling against each other.
I don’t know if this is common in other countries but I never really thought twice of the fact that gambling, which is usually associated with time for pleasure, can be found in a place that is so grievous.
I researched just now and found that some gamblers do in fact use gambling as a form of escape from their real life. Which is why you might find a lot of people just recently went through a divorce or death of a loved one gambling. I guess this is why there are always people gambling in funerals. Obviously over time I think it just became more of a tradition rather than an actual act of escape from mourning.
Personally I don’t think it’s a good idea to use gambling as a coping mechanism especially that your emotions will be the one driving your decisions and that almost never end well. It’s fine sometimes but I find that dealing with your emotions especially negative ones can be much helpful than turning into potentially harmful vices.
But What about you? Do you also use gambling to escape from stress of the real world?
I guess that's more common in collectivist societies where community is more essential. As a western, gambling as escapism in funerals is harder to imagine as in our individualist societies grief and mourning is still more personal thing. In here, mourning is visible but silent and suffering is our way of showing respect for the deceased. I don't think it's any better way then any other, but it's our culture and we are stuck with it.
And since everyone / every culture has a different way to process grief, we often see things that might feel irrational to us. And it might seem like we (ourselves too), are doing it wrong by feeling lots of different emotions. Thing is, we are incapable to feel just pure sadness, because feelings don't work like that. Feelings are ambiguous by nature, and need to feel joy in some form is inseparable part of that. That often comes in form of escapism or celebration for deceased.
I don't really have an opinion about which is the right way, but i do believe it's healthy to feel those feelings as soon as possible, so they won't bottle up. Because that's a platform to build depression on.
And with that i come to your point, which is escapism by gambling. Because gambling doesn't necessarily take a way the emotions, or prevent feeling them.
I can see why some people would see that as disrespectful, but if the culture doesn't see it that way, i wouldn't either. Because anything can be used as an escape, like playing, eating, watching tv, reading and learning, concentrating to working out, yoga, art and literally any hobby can be a form of escapism. Gambling is just one of the ways.