I finally realized what your question meant:  “What did you take away from that time?”  Although I did not get this stuff from “The Strip”, per se, I did get it from the cultural transformation of which “The Strip” was a manifestation – one that was easily accessible to an eager and impressionable teenager.  So I would say that “The Strip” was one of the things that enabled me to interact with and draw more from “the era” than I otherwise would have been able to.

 An open mind.

Readiness to question assumptions and conventional wisdom.

Respect for and tolerance of the views, choices, cultures and lifestyles of others.

Refusal to judge others by what they wear, what they drive, or what they own.

Readiness to defend an individual’s freedom to be whoever he/she wants to be.

A never-ending quest for who I am and who I want to be.

Love for democracy and freedom of expression and the press.

Anguish and anger at the wrongs in the world, and a dedication to fight against and help fix them.

Mistrust of institutions and leaders (e.g., government/political, corporate, church) with large vested interests, and an abhorrence for extreme nationalism and absolutist religion.

Abhorrence for war and militarism and a powerful desire for peace.

Powerful curiosity about and fascination with the unconventional, the strange and different, the offbeat and edgy, and an eclectic taste in music and art.

Preference for ‘intangible’ values over monetary gain.

Courtesy of Bill Mankin’s brain.