Kaiji - Where Debt and Trickery Lead
Kaiji is a gambling addict who continually puts his life on the line to gamble. Throughout the show he encounters many people just like him, but we soon start to encounter the differences as most care more for themselves or the money. Most get so consumed by their debt. Most decide to practice trickery and manipulation to get ahead and even more. The show attempts to make many statements about humanity, but because it centres around very greedy people and addicts it falls flat of defining all of humanity, only a subset. From a Christian perspective I would like to explore 3 ideas addressed within this show: 1)The Experience of Debt, 2) How Money Blinds People, and 3) How Tricksters Get Tricked. I will save The Nature and Purpose of addiction for another post (next week) as it is a bigger one for me. The show these all centre around greed and we experience how far and how low a high and greed can take people.
Debt is a scary thing to me. I have owed people things in my life, I have had a large amount on my credit card, I even took out a student loan, but each time I always new I could pay it off quickly. Debt can be haunting as it is this persistent shadow on your life. This is why I am always quick to pay any debt off. Even Paul points us to the same, “Owe no one anything but the continual debt of love”. We can see where debt drives people in this show. It drives them to put their life on the line, to go into greater debt, to addiction, to sacrifice, to cheating one another and more. One of the astounding things about our faith is that God doesn’t want debt, he is quick to forgive himself, but then in the law he challenges us to never loan for interest, he challenges us to never let anyone sell their land or person for more than 7 years. Debt is harmful in these cases for sure.
Is there such a thing as good debt? Well, we have created a sort of artificial system where taking out debt might show us to be more trustworthy to pay it off. I believe this is a way to promote us to create debt. The truth is though that the better form of trust is created in many other ways. It is created by the way we act and live in relation to the people and stuff around us. Debt is not really a part of that. It is rather made up of hospitality, giving, receiving, serving, presence and more.
This false version of good debt points us to another idea in this show, that money blinds people or at least can. We see the way that Kaiji’s closest friends betray him out of fear and greed, we see how people cheat and even kill one another to gain more and how the wealthiest people use it to manipulate people for more. This does happen in the world, though I would warrant less then the show imagines at least to this extent (though I do recognize I live a privileged life). That being said, money blinds people to a lot of smaller things everyday. It blinds them to how our spending or earning might be using others, how it might be hurting the world, how our desire for greater profits ignore the people or workers or purpose and so much more. More than anything money can blind people from the purpose of money and wealth. It is a gift given by God to be used for the care of those around us (including the world and ourselves). But sadly money can lead people to hoarding and tricking others to get more.
Do you know that there is a famous trickster in the Bible? Take a guess at who I mean. It is in fact one of the great patriachs, the father of the 12 tribes of Israel, the one in whom they take their name: Jacob, later known as Israel. His original name means “heel grabber” as he held onto his brother’s heel as he was born. This Hebrew word became synonymous with a trickster. He was later renamed Israel, which means wrestle with God. The interesting thing about Jacob is not that there is a trickster in the bible, but that God uses him to build his Kingdom. This is not because God likes tricksters who cheat others, but because God made a promise to his grandfather, but also because God only has broken people to choose from and he is powerful enough to redeem anything.
In Jacob’s story he tricks his brother for his birth right, his father for his blessing, his uncle for wealth, and his wives and their maids for children (kind of). This shows his distrust in God in some of the most important things, yet God continually finds ways to bless him and show him trust. At the same time, Jacob is also tricked numerous times himself. He is tricked by his uncle, he experiences the consequences of his wive’s trickery, he is tricked by his sons and his daughter in law and more. Trickery seems to stalk him like the consequences of his sins produce more on him. There is often huge ramifications, but the interesting thing is that God uses all of them. One of the closing lines of Genesis is Jacob’s son Joseph saying, “What you meant for evil God meant for good”.
In Kaiji’s story, not only is he often tricked, but he becomes a kind of tricked retribution for those other tricksters. He forces those who have maliciously tricked others to feel the consequences of that trickery, whether it is those on the boat, the one who brought him into gambling, the foreman, the casino manager or the richest man. He has to sacrifice a lot for it, but the consequence is often the salvation of others. In fact, in the show there is a strong correlation between sacrifice and salvation. It doesn’t always mean that those saved will use their salvation wisely.
Kaiji’s story presents to us an underbelly of society in it’s extreme, but in its softer edges presents to us some realities of who we are too. Debt is a thing that can very easily destroy people. Today, it can help on occasion, but it has the danger of putting our life and future on the line. Money can blind us from one another and it’s purpose. Money’s purpose is to be an inbetween and symbolize worth, but the sad reality is that it can become for us what it symbolizes and no longer become the inbetween. It can destroy relationships rather than be the tool for building them up. Lastly, trickery is a disastrous thing that only brings around more trickery. God can redeem it like all things, but he will show us the consequences of such things too.
Other topics of discussion:
Humanity is in it for themselves
We need each other to get through gambling and addiction
What is the rush that many people desire? What is it’s purpose and reality?
What is our life worth?
Why do we take pleasure in seeing other people struggle?
