17

NOV

Taking the "punt"...

posted on Tuesday, 2009

3 November 2009… oh no, has it been one year already?!

Turning the clock back to last year…

4 November 2008… an important date in the Aussie calendar …

No it’s not Australia Day…

It was the Melbourne Cup!

Also known as “the race that stops the nation”…

Look, this was my first stake in the Melbourne Cup!

Shocking! Unbelievable! Backslidden!

Woah woah… before you get off your high horses … please let me explain.

My office was abuzz with “equine” fever for the week leading up to the big day as colleagues got together to organise a Melbourne Cup party in the office. Staff members were encouraged to bring their own lunch or a plate for sharing.

Tickets were sold in the morning. One of the organisers came round with the tickets and I politely declined to buy one.

But a ticket was purchased on my behalf by the colleague who sat next to me, so that I could join in the fun and festivities.

Did I throw the ticket down, stomp on it and curse it? No. Instead, I thanked her, and just put the ticket aside. Heat up my lunch early in the pantry to avoid the excited hordes of “bet-ters”… and retreated to my little corner in the office.

A television set had already been moved from the office studio to the pantry. When the televised main race began, the excitement was raised a notch as punters screamed and cheered for their chosen horses.

Some of you may be glad for me that I did the right thing…

Hmmm… I wasn’t really 100% sure at that time though... it was a deliberate withdrawal and isolation from what was basically a social occasion… surely, it’s not a gambling den! But yet, I was still fully convinced about not participating in an event whose central theme was about gambling. It might have been in the name of harmless fun, but it could also turn out to be the first small steps towards entrapment. I would rather not take the “punt” when it could “plunge” me into the snares of sin.

Returning back to the present day in 2009…

I took a walk to the bookshop when this year’s race was on… The whole campus felt like a deserted town… seemed like everyone’s glued to the telly at their respective work places! But this time round, I no longer felt the need to fulfil any social obligations. Simply speaking… do not take the punt!

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evil men.
Proverbs 4:14

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

Psalm 1:1