When I was in high school I read J.D. Salinger’s 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye. Like all great works of art this book has enriched generations. After reading the novel I remember feeling different – as if I had been changed by the encounter. The insights and thoughts this book imparted could never be taken away or forgotten.
Of all the lessons that could be gleaned from this controversial novel, my teenage take-away was a deep conviction to never to be a phony. So when I moved to Las Vegas in 2009 I privately snickered in disbelief.
I have traveled the globe and lived in many interesting places and never once considered visiting Las Vegas. Like many residents of this unique, complex American city, I was lured and detained by the promise of economic and professional opportunity. No city or community is perfect. The experienced traveler understands it is more beneficial to take full advantage of a community’s positive attributes than dwell on its deficiencies.
For example, I never feel scrutinized in Las Vegas like I do in other communities. Nor am I astonished by other people’s choices or behaviors. I never feel social pressure to act or behave in a particular manor. Perhaps this is due to the fact I am nowhere near the edge of what this community defines as inappropriate. Perhaps this community has no social norms or expectations. Perhaps this community is so diverse that consensus cannot be forged. Perhaps commerce has stripped the community of all propriety.
Regardless, it is liberating. As long as I deliver on my contractual arrangements and abide by the law, I am free to get real in perhaps one of the most un-real places on earth.