What if where you happened to grow up has the moniker sin city ? Is that somewhere you would consider starting a family ? The city of Las Vegas is known for a lot of things, gambling , entertainment , provacativeness, etc. But you don’t ever hear of Las Vegas as a place someone would wanna raise a family, and their could be a plethora of reasons. I wanna dive into a specific one that I feel doesn’t get talked about, one that only an adult who grew up here can tell you about.

Growing up we all generally get told the same story, go to school, get a job, have kids, retire , die. As you grow up it becomes way more complex than that, some of us don’t get married, some of us don’t finish school, shit some of us don’t have jobs. That path that gets practically burned in us as kids, very few actually go down that path. Of course a lot factors into it, your household probably plays the number one role in how you turn out as a human. But how much are we blaming our environment around ? As a parent you do all you can do too provide your kids with the best tools, and most stable environment. What about when your kid leaves the house ? The things you can’t control what they see? The people they choose as friends, is all out of your control. You just have to hope as a parent your kid goes the right way.

Since adolescence I was always taught two things in life no ifs, ands, buts, you will finish college ,and get married. It was just the right thing to do, and growing up that’s what I wanted. I had dreams of going too ucla, my homie was supposed to go to usc. But as you get older those things get less appealing, people around you start getting money fast, it can distill your mind. As a kid you hardly notice , but as an adult you feel a shift. Your dreams feel farther than ever, and there’s a lot of money too be made in your face. Opportunities that, maybe risky , maybe immoral, pay the best dividends. But is this normal ? Are these even supposed too be possiblities?

Being raised in Vegas it all feels normal , things I realize as an adult should never be normal. Things I realized in a lot of different cities are not normal. Being able to live in different cities and share my societal norms with others left the question. How much of what I seen affects me now ? And how much will it affect me goin forward ? The question I’ve started too ask lately as I’ve gotten older is will this affect my ability too get married ?

On the surface it might sound crazy, but as I’m starting too get older I see a pattern in myself, a pattern in a lot of my friends that I’m generally not seeing when I’ve lived in other states. For example, I live in Austin, Tx . I moved here when I was 22 years old , I am now 26 and see a distinct difference in the path most go compared to where I’m from. It seems of that seen sentiment that was burned in our minds, actually follow through in certain places. People actually go to school, get married , and have that life . A life that I feel I let go as a reality in high school , people out there actually live it ? From there you start to examine , what have you seen , compared to what they have seen , too allow them to fulfill there story while you feel hesitant ? It’s a question that is probably way to complex to actually answer, nothing is 100% in this world, and I know people where I’m from who have lived that story. But you can’t help but ask what about the rest of us? Between women you had a crush on going into prostitution, best friends going into drug dealing, pimping,the love of your life cheating on you at the club, a good honest person just doesn’t succeed in our side of the map.Its possible, but it takes a special amount of discipline too withold the shit this city has too offer. An amount of discipline most of us don’t have, which leaves us all losers at the end. So while some of us succumb to the city, the rest of us are left with nobody.

Which leads to the conclusion ,what you see is what you know which is why I sit here 26, single, still trying to convince myself the crazy shit I saw should never affect how I want my future. That the life of a family, kids , happy marriage is possible. Of course I understand my city isn’t the only with these issues, but I I feel Las Vegas is a city that promotes it, encourages it, and benefits financially from it. Which as a kid can scar you, a scar you won’t see until your grown. And unfortunately a scar most of us won’t heal from, What You See Is What You Know.