It's been awhile since I've posted here - I feel like I've had to say that at the beginning of a lot of my recent posts here; I guess I just haven't been thinking too originally recently, which is too bad.
I just got back from spending four nights and five days in the 'fabulous' city of Las Vegas, which was a lot of fun. We gambled too much, I lost more money that I would be willing to confess to my mother, and my liver isn't offering me any thanks you's for what I fed it while I was there, but now it's all over the trip at least inspired this blog post.
So if you spend any time walking in the Las Vegas strip you'll see dozens of people that really make you wonder how they came to be where they currently are. There are street performers, who actually have some serious talent and can do pretty amazing things - however they're depending on people to be impressed enough to give them tips to feed and shelter themselves every day. That's somewhat understandable though, it's respectable to have talent and want to get it out there - who knows maybe it will lead to a real performing job someday. The other kinds of people are what really make you scratch your head. There are the people that will just get in a costume and stand on the road side with a tips bucket - those people can't possibly make any money, right? Unless you have a little kid who loves Buzz Lightyear or you just have an odd obsession with minions from whatever stupid movie minions are from, then you'll have to stop for a picture and then be guilted into paying them for taking the picture. If there are any street costume wearers reading this I'm sorry for my comments. So there's those people, and there are the people that make their living by handing out cards for strippers, strip clubs, and prostitutes (escorts if you want to get literal and not arrested), and those are the lives that you just really want to know what happened to.
How far do you have to fall to resort to standing in 100+ degree weather praying for perverts to walk by you that take and use the card for the prostitute that you just gave them. I'm sure they aren't getting paid based on how many prostitutes are called every day, but their just can't be any real money in that job. Not making money isn't something to be completely ashamed of either, some people are more than happy with making enough to stay alive and live their life how they want to, but how can you sleep at night knowing your entire day was about promoting prostitution or whatever word you would use to make it not seem like prostitution?
The answer is probably circumstances. Drug and alcohol addiction don't help, but I'd say drug and alcoholic addiction are largely driven by circumstances as well. The truth is that I have a tough time feeling super good about where I am in my life (23 years old with a good job, a solid career path, and a place to my own). The reason for that is because I don't feel like I did all that much to get here. It wasn't hard for me. My parents gave me everything I needed (and more). I didn't get into drugs as a teenager, and that's because my parents sent me to a Christian school where I didn't even know what drugs were. I went to a public high school but by then I had developed the character to not even think about getting into those self inhibiting things. Was that my doing? I mean I was the one to not do those things, but the morals I had were put right beside me the entire time I was growing up. Not too many people in my exact circumstances would have turned out much differently at that point.
Then I passed high school. I didn't excel, I had a B average or something, and that's more than enough to get into Waynesburg University where I chose to go to college - it wasn't hard. I didn't work particularly hard academically in college because I knew what I needed to do to get a job in my field - which wasn't much. I wasn't going to grad school, and I knew I'd never have to show a possible employer a transcript of my grades, because they don't care. So college was a breeze. I didn't touch alcohol until I was 21, so I didn't get into any trouble, and after I was 21 I was mature enough to know how to deal with alcohol and not allow it to make me make any bad decisions. I got a job out of college because I was confident and I knew what to say in interviews. It also helps that there are tons of jobs out there for people who have degrees in that field. It wasn't hard.
That's all a ton of words just to say that I've never had to work hard for anything in my life. I'm one of the few people that are willing to admit that, but it's true for most of the people that I have associated with over the last ten years. If you're trying to get a job in a super competitive field then yeah you've gotta do some hard work and spend some time struggling financially, but even at that point it's not like your life is on the line.
What I'm trying to say is that people don't realize how much of your life is determined by how you came up, and where you came up. Your parents lives have more influence on your life than anything you could do in the first 25 years of your life (and by that time you're pretty much already set on where you're going to go). Some people have parents that don't set them up too well and they come out of it because they're smart, determined, and have their own mind to use - which is great, but I'm sure that's the rarity more often than the norm.
You think any of those guys in Las Vegas handing out hooker cards grew up in a house with parents that could afford to raise their kids comfortably and with good moral standing? You think any of those guys ever had the opportunity to go to college? I'm not saying they were predestined to be there or that there was no other possible direction, but if you think that you 100% could have done better than them if you were given the same circumstances, you're nuts.
Growing up you're told that you can be whatever you want to be and anything is possible, which sounds great, but it's just not true if you look at a global scope. So much is determined on what you're born into - and you can't control that.
Realizing that you have less control over life than you originally thought isn't a fun way to think. Comparing yourselves to someone on that side of the street can make you feel better about yourself - but just keep in mind the probable circumstances that person was given before you let it go to your head and get an ego about it.
