It is my belief that historically "The American Dream" represents the United States as a beacon of liberty, prosperity, and a life free from prejudice that enables all citizens an equal opportunity for happiness based on individual effort and love. All Americans should be given the opportunity to make their own choices without restrictions such as class, caste, religion, race, or ethnic background. In a nutshell: "Success", "Success", Success". The Puritans believed that American prosperity meant meeting nutritional and spiritual levels to obtain overall happiness. We as Americans have only to look at our forefathers and the creation of the Declaration of Independence which states that "all men are created equal" and that they are" endowed with certain inalienable Rights".
In the novel "Fear and Loathing" Hunter S. Thompson meantions the phrase "rags to riches" quite often in association with gambling and life in Las Vegas. In addition, Mister Thompson relates to his audience a gentlemen named Horacio Alger. Upon researching Mister Alger, I learned that he was the prototypical 'rags to riches" author of his time in tne 19th century. Many immigrants have come to the United States with aspirations of a better life for themselves and their children. A great number of these immigrants have come from very diverse backgrounds and often from extremely difficult circumstances. Would you risk death to have a chance at prosperity and happiness? I certainly would if I were walking in their shoes. That is if they have shoes to walk in!
I was told as a child to get and education and work hard and anything was possible. Certainly citizens of the United States today are from many cultures and have many religious preferences, but do all individuals actually get treated the same way? I don't believe so! Every culture in our country is prejudiced against from some group or individual at some time. It is very disturbing that our forefathers and immigrants to this land of opportunity made all of these incredible efforts to make an attempt at conquering "The American Dream" and we have lost site of the true importance of this dream. Oh for the education and love again! We as Americans are very blessed to have the oppurtunity each and everyday to create our own destiny.
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Booya! Hit it on the head Fayne! The founding fathers were not the best judges of the American society, not then and certianly not now. There is a bias and a predjudice, however, in the U.S. we have freedoms and rights afforded to us that other countries "dream" of. I think that's where the term really connects to "The American Dream"
ReplyDeleteI agree that we are blessed to have the opportunity to create our own destiny. I believe that we all create our destiny when we make our choices. We are choosing to try and over come the prejudices in this country and are slowly doing so in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWe as citizens have the oppurtunity to create whatever destiny we want. I do believe our founding fathers would be deeply disturbed at what is happening in the government and how things are running as we created such a government that can rule and create such a mess that are founding fathers truly would not have wanted. We are bleseed to be in a society that has much to offer rather than to be another country where we would be in circumstances that are much worse so we are in a dream world that others would dream of living.
ReplyDeleteGoing off of what Carrie said, "we are in a dream world that others would dream of living," this message is a very powerful and thought provoking one. We that live in the US, and have never been to another country and walked in their shoes, truly do not know what it is like to not have the opportunities and freedoms we are given. By this account I dont believe we can understand the power of the American dream. To those who dont have this chance and come to the US it is an incredible new goal to pursue, but like countless other things in the US today, citizens take it for granted.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you about Americans creating their own success, that's how this country was founded. And I can also see the prejudices in our society. Look at Arizona's new immigration law, and you can clearly see prejudice at work.
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