The American Dream has been molested….

Yes, it has been molested, manipulated, and in many ways even raped. Harsh words you say? Yes, but most people today do not realize the true meaning of The American Dream. When I read words written by immigrants stepping off the ship for the first time 100 plus years ago I am humbled by their admiration of this land. Yet today people spend months, even years at a time screaming and pointing fingers at others; blaming them for what they don’t have.

Most of us, including me at one time, picture a man and woman standing in the front yard of a quaint doll house with their dog and 2.3 kids, all surrounded by a crisp white picket fence. This coupled with their new car, Route 66 summer vacations, and monthly dinner parties all define the perfect American Dream. But now because of that ornery, selfish 1% it’s impossible for the 99% to realize such a dream. So am I to believe they are like the Grinch that stole Christmas? That because they have so much and I have so little I just have no chance at achieving the goal? I cannot play because they have all the toys?

 Let’s examine “The American Dream” for just a moment.  Is it really what we think it is?

“In September 1931, Little, Brown and Company of Boston published "The Epic of America," a one-volume U.S. history by James Truslow Adams that delivered a concise but detailed version of the birth and rise of the nation. The history would be a bestseller, but its eventual glory was due largely to the author's epilogue.” Taken from The St. Louis Beacon online, The birth of the American Dream, By Mary Delach Leonard

In the book Adams writes:

"But there has been also the American dream," he wrote. "That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each, according to his 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. (Adams)

"It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely," Adams continued, "but a dream of a 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." (Adams)

As usual, The American Dream gives way to The American Greed. The initial definition of The American Dream was not about material wealth. It was about opportunity to become the best you could at being a productive contributor to our society.

Does the constitution not give us the “…. right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”? If you are sitting around waiting on happiness to be handed to you like a gift then you will never be happy. Work hard! Your parents gave you life and by nature that’s all they owe you. You are entitled to a basic education in America, but if you want anything else you better work for it.

If your plans don’t work out, develop another plan! It’s time for us America to grow up, take responsibility for ourselves and stop blaming everyone else for our short comings.