hey all.. my time in SF has paseed, and I'm now floating around in my aunt's home in LAS VEGAS, capital of hedonism, exhibitionism and sensuality. Sorry for the long appellations, but that's really how it seems to me. Everything is larger than life; loud, bright, and plastic. Everywhere you go, there are slot machines; yes, even in the baggage terminal of the airport. It seems like LV is trying too hard to maintain its reputation as gambling city. People smoke everywhere; and as i walk with my aunt, uncle and 5-year old cousin through the casino to reach the restaurant we are going to for dinner, i feel the irresistable urge to catch my little cousin and shield her from the influences that pervade the atmosphere. I find it disturbing that a so-called 'family friendly' restaurant has servers who dress in the skimpiest of miniskirts, that public shows that children go to include risque jokes and bawdy dancing, and that my little cousin actually LIKES those shows and accepts them as part of her normal life. She's FIVE! My GOSH!
~digress: it kind of reminds of a poem called 'Rising Five' (Seamus Heaney i think) - growing old before your time.
My opinion of the Strip might change tomorrow, in the daylight hours when its' denizens are perhaps a little more sane. But sitting here in comfortable LV suburbia, with the Strip far behind and far away, I find myself happier and more at peace. For all my hip (or at least *attempted* hipness!) dressing, blondie hair and multiple earholes, I am a conservative at heart when it comes to how people should dress, behave, and spend their lives. What is life without purpose? What impact does a soul make when it seeks only to gratify its' own desires? It seems to me, as I have realised in recent years, to be the ultimate selfishness. I do not pretend to be anywhere near selfless, but I want to move away from selfishness and self-centeredness every day. Read: Robb Thompson's Excellence in Attitude - what a person with an excellent attitude should be like!
No comments:
Post a Comment