The Other Side of Vegas Life

Friday night I went out with my cousins and really good friend Danielle, and we went to First Friday. First Friday is an art and vendor show that Vegas has on the first Friday of every month. So I was thinking it was going to be a lot of really cool vendors like in the movie What a Girl Wants (do ya'll know what I'm talking about?) and really cool art galleries and things of local artists. Well, there were vendors...and there were local artists. But the majority of the people were CRAZY! People were dressed up in clothes that were all cut up and had fake blood all over them. Other people were looking for a bar fight. The smell of weed was everywhere. It was interesting. I've been told that if you go earlier then it's not as bad. The jury is still out on that.

However, there was something that I saw that night that made me incredibly sad.

While walking up and down the streets there were random bongo bands playing music and people dancing and having a good time. We stopped at one because there was a bunch of people dancing and my cousin wanted to join in. I stood and watched as a mother and her son approached the dancing group and she placed a small basket with the word "TIPS" written on the front. She patted his cheek and walked away. Her son started doing all sorts of crazy dance moves, and he was pretty good for a 10 year old. A couple of people threw some money in the basket and cheered. At one point, a man accidentally knocked over the basket and helped the little boy pick up the money that fell out. As soon as all of the money was put back in, the little boy looked around, stunned at first, but then to find his mother who was dancing near by. He ran over to her, threw his arms around her waist and started to cry. She tried to hush him and tell him to go back to dancing but he wouldn't. And then we walked away.

It broke my heart. I don't know the reasons behind why that woman would have her son dancing in the streets for some money, but the idea of it made me sad. Sure Vegas is fun to some people, and the bright lights of the Strip act as a flame--- bringing in the moths from all over to come and waste their lives on gambling and cheap entertainment. But there's a darker, more sad side to the lives of the people living in Las Vegas.

Don't get me wrong, I truly love my time here and I enjoy all of the things there are to see and I do enjoy the people here as well. But what I think most people don't know about Las Vegas is that underneath the glitz, the glam, and the bright lights of the city, there's also something broken that needs to be fixed.