The American Dream

I remember as a kid singing along boisterously to the catchy lyrics:
Only in America
Can a guy from anywhere
Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire

Only in America
Can a kid without a cent
Get a break and maybe grow up to be President

The American Dream is a funny thing.  See, we used to actually mean these images in the lyrics above in a literal way.  When some of my great-great-grandparents came over on the boat, they really were penniless and looking for opportunity found through hard work and a little luck.  But I think that our concept of American success has moved away from American exceptionalism [in the sense de Tocqueville meant as a people focused on hard work and practicality, nearly to the point of abandoning cultural arts] and toward American sensationalism [where one creates a sensation, not a product and achieves fame, not experience].  In other words, we focus less on hard work and more on deserving a break or an opportunity for fame.

We still like the "underdog" to win.  This is why we rejoice to see a guy writing music in his basement, surrounded by an awesome vintage toy collection as a grand success.  But I think Walt Kowalski and his ilk would have a conniption if we told them that was our new image of the American Dream.  70 Million hits and counting on You Tube and you're there, baby!


Now, while I appreciate a new music sensation as much as the next Generation Y young adult, I worry that many of my peers expect that to be the "normal" path to success.  I see this attitude in my students all too often when they slack off all year and then beg for extra credit at the end--the magic moment when it all just clicked without much work never happened!  Fortunately, I also have many students who know that you only pass a Mrs. Henson test with some effort; even if their grades are not sky-high now, they are on the road to true success.


I hear a lot of talk about our problematic "entitlement culture."  What people don't talk about as often is the source--good ol' fashioned laziness.  Some say the generations before us worked so hard that they tried to pave the road smoothly for us, so we could have it easy.  Well, we do have it easy in many ways, but we also are experiencing ridiculous rates of clinical depression--my generation doesn't know how to deal with difficulty when it comes, and we don't know how to use elbow grease to get out of the rut we're in.  Case in point, I heard a mom bemoaning the other day that she probably couldn't have more kids because she wouldn't be able to pay for college for more than three.  Since when were you a bad parent if you couldn't shell out $30,000/yr for college for each kid?  I know quite a few people who paid their own way through college and have become financially savvy, resourceful, and thrifty at a young age because of it.

True success is not instant fame or even being a millionaire or billionaire who can afford a personal helicopter ride to ski down an iceberg or something.  I'd say that true financial/work success is the ability to provide the necessities for your family in an ethical way that uses your talents to serve others.  Sadly, in an economic and social climate that makes it difficult to survive on one income and that struggles to understand that raising a family well is hard work, we are in danger of losing the traditional American Dream to a society polarized into workaholics and state-supported non-workers.  Sadly, I know people forced by circumstances into both of these categories.  How do we recapture American exceptionalism?  Perhaps by just doing it ourselves.  Gandhi says, "Be the change you want to see in the world."  I think that's easier said than done, but necessary all the while.

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