I would describe the “American Dream” as a life of happiness and comfort as many people seek in the United States. To me, this is
having a family of two kids, about two years apart, and a dog. The mother is a
stay-at-home, mini-van driving, picture-taking loving mom, while the dad has a
good job that is able to provide for his family, but then also has time to play
sports with his kids on the weekends. The oldest child is a boy who protects
and looks after his younger sister. They both play sports and keep up good
grades. Every Friday, the family eats out to reflect on their week, to talk as
a family, and spend time together.
To me, all of this is wealth.
While having enough money to support oneself and their family is important,
wealth is being happy together and spending time together as a family. Money is
great to have, but happiness and love is what I believe is the true meaning of “being
wealthy”. “You aren't wealthy until you have something money can't buy” (Garth
Brooks).
American’s tend to believe that by
living in the US, one is already wealthy. Some American’s are selfish when it
comes to this and are also very stereotypical as they believe that The United States
provides numerous opportunities for everyone to have a lot of money and to take
advantage of. As this is partially true when comparing to other countries, the
majority of people in the US are not extremely wealthy. Similarly, American’s
tend to view poverty as small starving villages in Africa, when in reality poverty
is a problem in the United States too.
I find myself falling into the
stereotypes I listed above. I do view America as having a huge amount of opportunities
and find myself asking why everyone doesn’t take advantage of the amazing
breaks that the US offers. When I think of poverty I also think of small
villages in other countries and it is still hard for me to grasp how common
poverty is in America. While money is a very important aspect of everyone’s
lives, happiness and love should always come first.
I think your interpretation of wealth is great. You aren't really wealthy until you are 'rich' in life; this includes happiness, healthiness, and other factors. I think many peoples view of the American Dream is gender-bound. You say in your post that the mother stays at home while the father provides, and while I kinda agree that that sounds very comfortable, why are we trained to think that this mainstream American Dream is the only dream out there? Finally, you talk about people not taking these numerous opportunities that America has to offer. To delve deeper into that you could have talked about how some things restrict the American Dream, such as age, sex, religion, and race. Cool post overall though!
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