Gambling ought never to be an important part of a man’s life. If it is a way in which large sums of money are transferred from person to person without doing any good (e.g., producing employment, goodwill, etc.) then it is a bad thing. If it is carried out on a small scale, I am not sure that it is bad. I don’t know much about it, because it is about the only vice to which I have no temptation at all, and I think it is a risk to talk about things which are not in my own make-up, because I don’t understand them. If anyone comes to me asking to play bridge for money, I just say: ‘How much do you hope to win? Take it and go away.’ – C.S. Lewis from God in the Dock (Eerdmans: 1970) 59-60.
C.S. Lewis shows his lack of attachment to money in the above quote. Someone hopes to gain some money, he says, here have some. He holds his money loosely. Most of us would not respond like this. We hold our money more tightly. This made me wonder though, what things do we hold with a white-knuckled grip in our lives. What things do we hold like a two-year old grabs a toy while another toddler tries to rip it from their hands. What would we never give up?
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