American Dream
I wrote this at the closing of a class in March of 2011. The professor gave me an A and I thought it would be nice to share..It is something to think about.
Now has come for the closing of this class. I would like make a comment on my thoughts pertaining to the American Dream. Which incidentally is the title of the class.
No person on this earth has promised me anything. God through faith alone has helped me meet my needs which are food, clothing and shelter. People cannot rely on another person to make themselves happy or to help us seek what is ours because we have worked for it. We must go out, be fruitful and multiply. Be fruitful and multiply is within itself a concept of nature which God instilled in all people, all races, all cultures. I use God as an example because I believe in the creator as mentioned in Genesis.
A group of people did just that a while back and hence was born America. America was a collective group of men, some with families, who wanted to be free and to live without the “imperial crown” leadership from across an ocean. She achieved that in a physical / spiritual sense. But in making this great land, many used those old world ideals and ways to which we governed ourselves like the French Napoleonic Codes of Louisiana or the English Common Law of North Carolina.
To increase the population of America, a rhetoric type of ideal was born – “The American Dream.” America felt that more of a good working class of people tasted the flavor of achievement, have more room to move around in, and the ability of ownership especially a piece of land. America also felt possibility of power in the number of people residing on her continental lands with like similar backgrounds. It was a chance for the common man to come, give and you shall receive. It was like reading a biblical passage.It is very much comparative in nature like "going to the promised land." The growth in population of people, built a nation-- off of the labor of the hands, sweat of their brow, and the pain in their back. For in every nation there will always be a leader(s) among men, but physical force will prevail to build. You cannot have one without the other. The bent over worker often became the stepping stone for the wealthy and the powerful.
Here we are, more than 230 years later, looking at the American Dream. What is it? Does it exist? What does it mean to the individual? What does it mean to me? It saddens me while reflecting on the history of America to state there really is no such thing as the American Dream. It was nothing more than some great literary works of philosophers and politicians. People really didn’t know what it was until they were told. But, to definitively break this concept of the American Dream down is to look at nothing more than our freedoms. Our freedoms were just disguised in retrospect to be an “American Dream” which is something we have already obtained. As of right now our “Freedoms” are hidden in a fog of war and a state of economic depression.
Are we not free to get up on any day of the week and worship any religion that we choose? Are we not free to speak our thoughts without the threat of being jailed or hanged for heresy? Are we free to be educated and seek a job in any field we so choose? Are we free to make purchases with the fruits of our labor like a loaf of bread? Are we ensured that when we commit a crime that due process will be followed on our behalf within reason? Do we have the freedom of ownership? Are we not free to eat at any restaurant we so choose without being told which section we are only allowed to sit in because of our color? Are we not free to vote in elections?
It is true that we struggle with many of freedoms, but we paid for them in our time and have them available to us. We may not have land to call our own, but I have freedom to seek. The American Dream did not ever exist; it was just come and join us for the freedom you will have, seek the freedoms that can be obtained, materialism that you can work to achieve, and the wants you can lavish yourself with once your needs are satisfied. The only question which arises, do we ever really own anything or do we just pay for the right to use?
I have freedom, I know I have it and I am thankful for it. It is our time to make it better. Soon it will be the time of our children to take the reign and carve out their freedoms through education, hard work and integrity. One day, they too will realize they are free and have been so all along. I still contend that the American Dream never existed it was just an invitation for freedom(s) which is very much alive and well in America
Now, it is April 2017. When I wrote this 6 years ago, I was still skeptical of the American Dream. The concept first showed up in a literary work of art, written by James T Adams in a 1931 book called The Epic of America. It is about telling how America came about and is nothing more than a view point. History changes everyday with the discovery of something new, where it be an original document or a point in fact that was overlooked. I was of the children who were taught about Washington's Cherry tree and the lying point; "I did not chop down the Cherry tree and I cannot tell a lie" syndrome.
Since day one, in the history of America, there have been some really "BIG WHOPPER FISH" tales that people thought actually happened. If you only use the history you learned in school, then I suggest you might try reading Lies my teacher told me by James W Loewen. You can obtain a copy free via a PDF file off the internet. Then Google, Bing, or Yahoo to check facts in the book.
What I am telling you is the American Dream is not a success story, it is nothing tangible to hold on to. It is just nothing more than a concept. Life is what we make of it and not an American dream. Success stories have nothing to do with money but it to is a concept of ideals realized. It is an emotion and nothing more. None of this has anything to do with what is tangible and everything to do with perception.
Go with God.
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