Las Vegas...not my kind of town

I have never really figured out what trade shows are for. You spend a lot of money to fly your people in, you set up a booth, you wine and dine the customers, and at the end you still have to get up every morning, and go see your customers at their place to get the orders.
And I especially don't get the fascination with Las Vegas. It is a desert city that was started for the sole purpose of wrangling the last few dollars out of some poor GI's pocket. Of course, the GI's who came here in the 1940's wouldn't recognize it. The city is huge, the old strip is about gone. But the decadence is as real as ever. This city truly represents all that I find detestable. It is a city based on greed, and perverse power, the evil is almost palpable.
Yet the 3rd grade teachers from Fargo and Clovis and Abilene flock here, insurance salesmen, dock workers, postal clerks, all come to drop their hard earned money in this city that takes every human inclination to the extreme. I wonder what the carpenter turned rabbi would say to all this?

After we put up the booth and ironed the samples and had a few short meetings, everyone was ready for lunch. So we found a sport's grill just off the casino and all 10 of us ordered our lunch. We were sitting at a round table, which looked out over the casino floor. I was sitting facing the casino, and just visiting with my coworkers. Just about the time everyone was seated, a young "showgirl" climbed on top of the bar in the casino, in a revealing outfit and began to sing a popular tune. The guys at the table all turned and watched. I know this is not the worst activity that a young lady can involve herself in in Vegas. I know there are several hundred explanations for this taking place. But somewhere in the past few years I crossed over a line. I can't watch a young lady doing something like that with out wondering to myself, "I wonder what her daddy would say?" All women under 40 now fall into what I generally consider my daughters. When I see them in a situation that would make me cringe to see my girls in, it makes me sad to wonder what happened. Did he not care? Did he abuse? Could he not stop this?

You see, my life is filled with a wife and daughters and daughter-in-law who have fought some tough battles, have been disappointed and hurt, who could have taken an easier road. But they didn't. They are married to men who cherish them for their worth as people. They are not self-centered, but are compassionate. Did I have something to do with that? Some. Am I proud of them..intensely. But it upsets me to realize that the demarcation is very thin between daddies who cherish their daughters and give them a fighting chance, and daddies who paved the road to humiliation and hurt with their abuse or neglect or their own personal battles with control.

Yes, I hate this place. I hate it that I'm not home with my youngest and her little one still in NICU. I hate it that the little money I spend here is used to further this illusion of "fun". I hate it that so many daughters are used and abused here, and apparently their daddy can't do anything about it.

Godspeed, sometimes the journey takes us through a particularly ugly stretch of the trail.
Don