I'm in Las Vegas
and amazed at the  number of people
from all around the world–
Europeans, Africans, Asians, South Americans…

Why come to Las Vegas?
Yes, it's iconic–
    on the order of Times Square,
    the French Quarter of New Orleans,
    the Grand Canyon,
    Mount Rushmore…
But with what impression do these guests leave?

"Those Americans!
    Such excess!
    Such superficiality!
    Such waste (all that water in the middle of the desert)!
    Such commercialism!
    Such an obsession with physical perfection!"

I don't suppose
any of them
believes the Las Vegas Strip
is real,
but how many
leave with the impression
that we are a nation
of self-indulgent buffoons?

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.