I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “I’m living the dream!” Maybe you heard from your neighbor when you complimented them on their new car or your coworker when bonus checks got handed out. Whatever the case more than likely it was in reference to something material, probably of a high monetary value. Maybe it was used in sarcasm referring to the paycheck that is too small, or the job you don’t like. Even when used sarcastically it refers back to material wealth. That nice house in the suburbs, with the white picket fence, the dog in the yard playing with your two kids (one boy and one girl) that are about to be loaded into the family station wagon for little Jack’s baseball game and little Jill’s piano recital, isn’t that the American dream?
Here’s what I found when I looked up American dream online: "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." This was written by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America in 1931. How about this statement: (tell me if it sounds familiar) All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." If you said Declaration of Independence you are correct.
The part in the passage of Mr. Truslow that stands out and spoke to me is “It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable.” The American dream to me is about living your life to the fullest, about living in a country where you are free to dream. It seems that for many the American dream means living beyond your means, out doing your neighbor, being jealous of others. Shouldn’t we be happy for each other, celebrate each other’s accomplishments, work hard and strive for what we want. It is after all the American dream not the American handout or the American right. Think about that line from the Declaration of Independence, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not guaranteed happiness, but the right to be happy.
I’m not sure what triggered this train of thought, and it very well could derail any minute. Reading back over this, I may be rambling. I just really feel that the majority of society has become greedy and ungrateful. My family and I used to live in Alaska, there is a government program there called the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend. The PFD is a check based off the oil revenues of the state. It is given to every resident of Alaska no matter your age. A family of five equals five checks, and so on. The amount ranges based on oil sales for the year, some years it would be over a thousand others it would be less. People would complain when it was small, and when I say small I never saw it drop below $800 the 12 years we were there. People complaining about free money (not exactly free, you have to pay taxes on it). Money that the work you have to do is send in your paperwork, you can even do it online. That’s just one example of what I’m talking about. Society is doing more complaining and tearing each other down, and worrying about what the other guy is doing, and not spending enough time being happy with what’s right in front of them. Our kids pick on each other for not having a $75 pair of shoes, or for not adhering to the latest fad, that is shoved down their throats in TV ads, movies, videos, and any other way the advertisers can get to them. At this rate things are only going to get worse. If that’s your idea of the American dream I know a couple of credit card companies that deal in making American dreams come true. (For a small fee)
I will not insult your intelligence by pretending that I never spent money that I shouldn’t have been spending. I have seen the dark side of this American dream, I know what living in debt and feeling like there is no escape is. I am 3-4 years away from being debt free, and I will do everything in power to stay debt free. My new American dream is to be happy with what I have and love those that I surround myself with. I don’t want any part of the American nightmare I see happening around me.
Take look around and be happy with something you see.
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Preaching to the choir sweetie. Great blog. You and me...will make our American dream come true. Thank goodness we are chasing the same one!
ReplyDeleteLove you
Hi Steve, I am so enjoying reading your blogs. Your writing is wonderful and the points and questions you raise keep me mulling them over for days.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that we as a people have gone astray. And you paint a picture of one of the ways that it is in our society right now. But, I believe that there are hard working people, living within their means (even below their means), giving their time and their money to others, and caring about their neighbors. You know that I move in a circle of people who are well off financially. But, I can honestly say to you that all of these people are giving back in many, many ways. Their kids are not wearing designer brands, none of us drive new cars. As I sit here, I'm hard pressed to think of anyone that I know personally that I would call greedy, by which I mean a real drive to earn more and more money or have more and more stuff. (I can think of a few people that I know peripherally.) One of the reasons the above is true is because Mark works at the Native hospital. It attracts a certain kind of person, actually a liberal kind of person.
You probably realized when you were here that our church is pretty affluent. Yet, whenever there is a need that goes out in our church people respond. And not in small ways, in very generous ways. The triangle room was recently overflowing with goods for a food drive.
I think that, in general in this country, we are doing a very poor job of teaching our younger and next generations to live within their means and to save. We have lived in a culture of spend, spend, spend and that has been encouraged, not just by the credit card companies or by the companies represented by the all of those commercials on television, but by our federal government. Our system ran on the fact that many of us were spending more than we had. And now, we have to re-educate a vast swathe of the population.
I think that the American dream means different things to different people. Especially those people that really think about it. There's a guy working at our house right now, putting in a wood stove for us. He's living the American dream because he is able to live a life where he is able to take the work that he wants just to make enough money to keep building his house. That's what makes him happy. Building his entire house with his own two hands. He's been at it for years and he will be at it for many more.
I am living my American dream and not because Mark has a good job and we run off to places like Mexico and Africa all of the time. I could give up those things in a second. I really could. It's because I found a place that makes me perfectly happy (Alaska!) and we were able to make the choice to move here and find work. My house makes me happy, it is my home. My car makes me happy, it's got 150,000 miles on it and runs like a dream. My dog makes me happy, he's a big ole mutt. My kids make me very happy, they are awesome human beings. My husband makes me happy, he does really good work in this world and is the light of my life. My spiritual life fills me with joy and contentment. My friends make me so happy, even when they are very far away and we communicate via our blogs. : )
Keep up the good work Steve. Keep writing what you think. Your thoughts are important and helpful to other people, especially me, because I'm always really going to think deeply about what you write.
Oh man, that is seriously embarrassing that my comment is almost as long as your post. : /
ReplyDeleteDon't be embarrassed, I'm happy that my blog inspired such a response.
ReplyDelete