Social Views in Las Vegas

Like most every city in the world, how you are perceived in this town goes for a lot. Being the homeless capital in the world, it means a lot more in certain fields. Being a native to this town, I know first hand that you absolutely cannot go out without getting a homeless person asking for a cigarette or loose change or spare scraps of food at least once. It is common-place to get more of this, especially if you depend on public transportation as a means of travel. Believe me, I see and experience a lot of this. In this situation, there are typically two extremes to go by: either you can always do the generous thing and donate to them whatever they request, knowing that there is that one-in-a-hundred shot that he/she is actually going to obtain food with that, or you can do the self-preservation act and never give them anything. There is a lot that can fall in your favor if you go the generous route. It has a lot to do with karma, and the concept of provide for others now because what happens if some tremendously horrid thing happens to you and you happen to be in that situation? Providing food/funds/fags for the homeless is, first and foremost, a good thing to do. It also provides good credit towards your karma rating. But most homeless people got themselves there in the first place, right? Move to Vegas looking for a job, because this town has plentiful amount of jobs, right? They get here; get lured into the extravagance of gambling, and wind up homeless, penniless, and hopeless. Why provide them with funds? All they will do is gamble it away, drink it down, or shoot it up. And also, what happens if I cannot do any of those things for them anyways? Here's my opinion on the matter. Whether or not they are authentically looking to get out of the street because they got dumped there by the system or whether they are content with staying there is a crapshoot call. The thing is, though, providing them with the uber bare necessities is a good thing to do, regardless. But, as I told someone close to me recently, self-preservation is absolutely necessary in order to perform species-preservation. Without the individual looking out for himself or herself, he or she will soon not be able to ensure looking out for other people. So, look out for others around you, just so long as you are physically, mentally, intellectually, spiritually, and financially able to do so without driving yourself bankrupt in any of those cases. Take that as you will. -[alpha]{BETA}[delta]