My name is Marvin Dixon, and I have more than three decades of experience as a private investigator. Much of my career has centered on serious criminal investigations involving murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, rape, and other violent crimes.
Over the years, I have interviewed many offenders, and I began to notice a troubling pattern. Many came from similar environments—single-parent homes, impoverished communities, neighborhoods affected by drug dealing, drug addiction, alcoholism, violence, and, in some cases, parents who had little involvement in their children’s lives.
But we must be careful not to believe that a person’s environment determines their future.
I know because I came from an impoverished community myself. I was one of the fortunate ones. My mother was a caring woman who wanted the very best for my siblings and me. Through her guidance, discipline, love, and encouragement, I was able to avoid many of the pitfalls surrounding me and eventually build a different life.
That experience helped shape my mission today.
I want to do everything I can to help young people who are still growing up in difficult circumstances—and I believe all of us can play a part.
We have to stop saying, “These young people can’t be helped.”
Sometimes a young person simply needs someone to believe in them. Someone to listen. Someone to encourage them. Someone to show them that another life is possible.
Compassion can change a life.
The child you encourage today could become tomorrow’s brain surgeon, engineer, teacher, business owner, scientist, investigator, or scholar. But if no one ever tells that child that they have value and potential, they may never discover what they are capable of becoming.
After spending decades investigating the consequences of bad decisions, it is heartbreaking to continue seeing young people from impoverished communities travel down destructive paths.
We may not be able to save everyone.
But if you can help just one person make a better decision, you may have changed that person’s future forever.
Reach back. Mentor someone. Encourage a young person. Listen without immediately judging. Show compassion. Let them know that somebody cares.
Someone did it for me.
Now it is our responsibility to do it for someone else.
Let’s help others. Join the conversation.
Marvin Dixon/Founder
VMGreview.com, Verifacts Investigation, and Frontline Investigator Training Academy.
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