Identity Crisis

In Dallas, being underage and wanting to have a nightlife is almost impossible. After doing some research, I discovered that Dallas has only 12 bars and clubs for people 18 years or older. None of which are appealing enough to go to, and most of them are only 18+ on specific days.

Like most people my age, we have friends who are above the age of 21. With them being older, they would much rather go to a nice place rather than the dinky place offered for the youngin’s.  I don’t blame them, I’ve been to some of these places and they really are that bad.

Unfortunately, when people think about the age 21, they focus on the legal drinking aspect of the age. I, on the other hand think about the freedoms offered by the age- more places to go and more people to see. I could care less about people who want to waste their weekends getting smashed. I don’t judge. Like Rihanna says,  "I just want to dance!"

Recently, I got a taste of what nightlife is like in Dallas without having to worry about my age. Of course this happened by borrowing an ID of a friend, but nonetheless, I still got to experience it. Soon enough, I came to learn that most bouncers don’t care how old you are; as long as you have an ID that says you are 21. This way, they are not held liable for the actions taken by the person.

I also learned how loose the enforcement of identification laws are, encouraging underage people to get fake ID’s. If there is a resemblance from the picture to the person, the ID looks real and it states that you are 21, you're in. As long as it brings in the revenue, right? Ehm, I mean the people… ehm.  

However, getting a fake ID leads to larger problems that people don’t usually think about. For example; if you get caught with a fake, you can get arrested and fined with a conviction on your record. Who wants that? Another example would be, having to worry about memorizing everything on the ID; if you make the slightest mistake when asked, your ID will be taken up.

Personally, I am not against people investing in getting a fake ID. It’s not about having the ID, but more so the choices you make with the ID. Sure, being in college makes it easy to get your hands on alcohol; I mean someone knows someone who can hook it up. But as I stated before, that just doesn’t do it for me. I would like more choices to go out than a frat party, random house party or the dreadful 12 bars and clubs Dallas has to offer to me.