A story about a man

This is a real life story about a middle aged man. He came from poor family but he's very smart. From young, he was one of the top student in his class. However, due to financial restraint, he was unable to further his study to obtain tertiary education. But luck was on his side,  he got a job offer in government sector.

Life was hard back than. But he still managed to get by with the meager income. He met his wife when he was working in a rural area. They fell in love and got married. It was a simple marriage, they signed the wedding certificate and pronounced husband and wife.

The husband is the breadwinner while the wife stays at home to manage their household. Life was simple back them. Sometimes the man went out for a hunt to provide food on the table. The couple have 4 children, 3 girls and a boy.

After spending years in the rural area, they moved to the city. Life was still simple but they still can manage with just one income. The couple was prudent in their daily life, so that they can save enough money to buy a house to call their own. However, the kids never complained, they were too young to understand. Besides, all that they cared about was having fun. The kids played house with stick and dry leaves, jump of their imaginary lava from one couch to another.

After years of living frugally, they finally living their dreams. They bought their house and got a new car as well. From living in a rented shop house, they moved to a double storey terrace house. They thought they had made it in life. Little did they know, it was a beginning of the downfall.

Money is no longer an issue in their household. They took the kids out for dinner weekly. The wife has stopped cooking for her family. Everyday she would take away food from outside, they can afford luxury in life and buying more and more car, the wife wear lots of gold jewelries as her pride.

Life in the city definitely has changed the man. Money is all that he can think about. He wanted to get more money and fast money. One thing leads to another and he started to gamble. Lucky for him, luck was on his side. He enjoyed the thrills of winning money, taking thousands and thousand Ringgit home. This habit slowly building up and he spent his weekend gambling.

It was a big hit at first. Few years down the road, his luck ran out or rather he get greedy. He started to lose money but he being the egoistic man himself is not willing to accept that he is losing money. It was a few hundreds Ringgits and building up to thousands Ringgit,

But a gambler is a gambler. He resolved to taking loan from unauthorized person. This is where everything goes downhill for him. He is not willing to go back to his frugal day. He loves the money and the luxury. One day, he lost big time and desperate for money. He slowly building up his debts. At first, he managed to pay it all back.

Sadly old habit die hard. He keep on gambling with the hope to relive his glorious day. He gambled day and night and building up a huge amount of debt from loan shark. Things at home are no longer happy. His wife is oblivious to his habit. But the kids know. His kids are growing up and they no longer the innocent kids that once he can lied to. The loan sharks are unforgiving to their customers. He had to borrow money from people around him. Lots of excuses were thrown to relative to cover his gambling habit. He lied to them telling them that he needed the money to send his kids to university.

The life of a gambler is a cycle. He paid his debt but went back to gambling and again accumulating a huge sum of debts. This time he is desperate. He sold his luxury jewelries, sold one of his car and borrow money from relative again. Sadly, his mask fell off. Everyone knew about  his habit and refused to help him. His relationship with his kids are strained by money. He even forces them to give him their life saving. The kids are baffle, where is the father that they once know? The man that in front of them right now is possessed with money.

Helping a gambler by lending money to them is not helping them but actually further encourage them to gamble. He is a wise middle aged man, he know the consequences of his action and yet he chose to ignore it. Now everything is coming back to haunt him. Too bad he is all caught up in materialistic world that he forgot about his moral values. Now nobody can help him except himself.

What kind of legacy that he wants to leave behind is up to him. If he is not willing to change, the ending is not gonna be rainbow. People say man grow wiser as they age but sadly this is not the case here.

Do you know who is this man? Or does this story sound familiar to you?