Aaah, the American Dream. What is the American Dream? Is it to achieve mediocrity, for everyone to eventually become the same as everyone else? Have we become so afraid of failure that we hesitate to even try, to compete, in case we might find ourselves a loser? Do we want to be the same as all our neighbors, each opening our doors in unison, stepping out onto manicured lawns, all driving the same 4 door sedan? Many people come to our country in search of the American Dream, the chance to better themselves, the opportunity to work hard and be rewarded fairly for it. It seems we have a cap to this though. If you work too hard, make too much of yourself, or are rewarded too fairly, you are penalized. Having to pay for the mediocrity of those less ambitious has become the burden of those willing to push themselves a little harder, a little farther.
My father, born in 1945, had the good fortune to escape from East Germany, to avoid a life where individualism was punished by a crushing governmental arm. He was schooled in his third language, Spanish, at the age of 16, emigrated yet again from South America to the United States at the age of 19. Worked his way through college as a German tutor, in the swamps of Louisiana laying pipeline, and doing odd jobs. He earned his masters in Physics, working for Shell Oil, only to find that this too was a cap on his abilities. Night school rounded out his days to meet his medical school entrance requirements. He is now a physician, practicing for over 25 years, successful, all of his own account. He did not know the language, he had no family support.
My mother, a teacher, supported him to raise five children, all of whom have become successful in their own rights. All of whom have taken the gifts they were given, hardships and failures that they experienced and turned them into something good.
I came from very humble roots..a farmer’s granddaughter, an immigrant’s daughter, a minister’s granddaughter, a teacher’s daughter. My husband and I work very hard. Having put in 9 years of post high school education and 6 additional years of on the job training. During that time, we incurred student loans, worked over 100 hours each week and took minimal salaries. We continue to drive our old cars, use duct tape when possible and watch our budget closely. We purchased a new home to our good fortune… at the height of the housing bubble, to our misfortune. But, we continued to put off new purchases to meet our loan payments. We send half of our earnings to the government, willingly, under the presumption that it will be used to better our country, our state, our city and our local communities and schools. And yet somehow, it seems as if we are being punished for working hard.
While I am definitely in favor of helping those in need, our taxes should be used to improve our infrastructure, our schools, our health system and our families. We should be rebuilding our society from the roots it was founded on rather than trying to salvage the scathing heights it has reached. It feels good to help out a fellow citizen in need, it is another to throw money into bottomless coffers. The new and improved “american dream” has the ring of the old socialism, equal everything for everyone. What happened to working hard, taking hold of opportunity when it comes your way, and reaping what you sew? If we take away all of the failures of capitalism, we will also take away all of the benefits and the opportunity, for some, not all, to realize their dreams. It is ok to fail; just meet it head on and turn it into something good. Difficult to swallow in our instant gratification society, success after failure won’t come tomorrow.
Yes, we all work hard, but there are some people who work harder. This is never more evident than in sports which is probably why my husband loves them so much. You can’t fake achievement in sports, except with steroids of course, but I digress. It is absurd to have cheer leading squads where everyone gets to have a turn, football teams where anyone is allowed to play, what are we teaching our children? That they should not fail? That none of us have special talents? Even if we are all given equal opportunity when we begin, it is our gumption that gets us somewhere, and our talent that makes us great, even if at just one very small thing. That’s what dreams are made of.
