The American Dream

Go to school, get a job, raise a family, buy a house, live happy in the land of the free...It is something that people grew up with for years. This was the land of opportunity. Now I've heard people in the past few years spewing some Apocalyptical BS about how the American dream is dead. How we are no longer the greatest country in the world. Now of course calling anything the greatest something or other is mere speculation. But to live in a world where women are still stoned to death for adultery and millions of people die from starvation and disease, I'd say that living in a country that grants you the freedoms to pretty much do whatever you want, within reason...still qualifies THIS as the greatest country in the world.

Don't get me wrong. We have our problems. This much is clear. But don't mistake problems for pitfalls. So we live in a place where our leaders have no true sense of leadership; a place where our money has been pretty much rendered worthless; a place where people would rather pass the blame for their short comings in life, rather than accept the fact that they made choices that put them in whatever shitty position they may be in.

No the American Dream is not dead. It is VERY MUCH alive. But it won't just be handed to you on a silver platter. It is something that must be worked towards. It takes many attempts, failures, lessons learned and many more attempts. Sometimes it is achieved, and sometimes it is not. But not achieving the dream does not equate to failure. The American dream is not exactly as tangible as once thought. It has become more of a theoretical destination. Although, maybe it always was.

To live the American dream, one must simply pick a destination, learn the means to reach the end, attempt, fail, retry, probably fail again, attempt yet again...and if you have properly learned from your mistakes, it is quite possible, that you might reach your destination. But that isn't the end of the dream. The American dream can take you as far as you want to go. Once you reach your destination, you can choose to stay there, or pick a new destination, and start the journey again. In the end, it is all on you.

I think the American Dream is not only alive, it is exactly what this country needs to believe in again. We have no sense of ourselves. We have no capable leaders. No attainable goals. We strive to stay afloat when we should be aiming for higher ground. No one said America would be easy. No one said it would all fall into place. We pick the people who will run the country, then we criticise them when they fail HORRIBLY. Sometimes they deserve it, but most times, it is our own fault. We allow people to govern us, who outside of an expensive education and a law/business degree, have NO real qualifications. What this country needs right now is a good swift kick in the ass. The only way that will happen is if we realize that all of our politicians are pretty much the same. We NEED different. We crave different. We have to understand that the only way we can turn this ship around, is with a new kind of leader. One who isn't afraid to make the hard decisions. One who can lead by example and most importantly, lead from the front instead of simply stating a goal, then tasking it out to everyone else. I pray that this leader shows himself soon...because as long as we maintain the current course, we will continue to dream the unattainable dream.