What is the American Dream?
It is now time to migrate away from the topic of liberty, which could be discussed for hours and hours on end, and to shift to the topic of America. In your opinion, what is the American Dream? Is it the idea that everyone has a job and everyone is wealthy? It honestly depends on the person you're asking. In countries with less fortune than America has, the Dream is exemplified greatly and made into a huge deal.
My family, not including my mom, dad, and sister, all live in Romania. Romania is a country in Europe located by the Black Sea and Albania. Although it has been doing better in its recent years, the people of the country are not as wealthy or fortunate as we are here in the states. I visited my family in Romania last summer, and luckily they are part of the upper class, but their interpretation of America is still tremendous. They see America as a land of opportunities. They see America as a land of freedom, and liberty, and most importantly success. The American Dream in their opinion is to be able to wake up healthy everyday, with a huge house, expensive cars, and lots of money. What they indeed do not see is the struggles that we face to obtain those luxuries. They don't see the hours of work we put in, the extra jobs we have, and the amount of time and motivation we put into our work. They just see it a a world where everything is provided and easily accessible. The American Dream, for some other people, might just be having enough money to put food on the table, while for others it may be having luxurious things and a lavish lifestyle.
My family, not including my mom, dad, and sister, all live in Romania. Romania is a country in Europe located by the Black Sea and Albania. Although it has been doing better in its recent years, the people of the country are not as wealthy or fortunate as we are here in the states. I visited my family in Romania last summer, and luckily they are part of the upper class, but their interpretation of America is still tremendous. They see America as a land of opportunities. They see America as a land of freedom, and liberty, and most importantly success. The American Dream in their opinion is to be able to wake up healthy everyday, with a huge house, expensive cars, and lots of money. What they indeed do not see is the struggles that we face to obtain those luxuries. They don't see the hours of work we put in, the extra jobs we have, and the amount of time and motivation we put into our work. They just see it a a world where everything is provided and easily accessible. The American Dream, for some other people, might just be having enough money to put food on the table, while for others it may be having luxurious things and a lavish lifestyle.
I agree that a lot of hard work must be put in to achieve the dream. Even though it is easier for the wealthier classes of America, the majority of our population must work to tremendous amounts in order to be successful in America today. The struggles are even greater for people who are not white , and women as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that other people from different countries view America as the land of opportunity, but I disagree with your statement that they think that Americans don't work hard for their success. For your specific family or group of people this may be true i'm not informed on that specifically, however from what I see they know that we work hard because we have the opportunity where that if we do work hard we can become successful since from where they may be from they work hard but don't have the opportunity of success. Of course this view differs depending on each individual in other countries.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you talk about your family being from Romania and seeing America as a great land of opportunity because mine is just like that. However my family also knows the struggle that it takes to achieve that success that they so long for. I think it just depends on how informed each country is about what it takes to live the American Dream.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the American Dream is highly dependent on income, sexist, racist, and outdated in many cases of the definition. The definition of the dream to me is to be in constant financial and emotional stability with a family of four. In many cases, this is simply unobtainable. I love how your family views America! I agree that the dream can vary.
ReplyDeleteI also have a lot of family who don't live in the US, and the conditions that they live in is very different than what i'm used to. I haven't been fortune enough to visit them, but i imagine that they also wish that they could come visit America. Although it may be a lot of work to obtain the American Dream, my grandparents, who visit the Philippines often, still say that my relatives wish they could come to America and live out that dream.
ReplyDeleteI love how you evaluated the different perspectives on the American Dream by applying it to your own family.
ReplyDeleteI like how you connected your interpretation of what the American Dream is by examining what your family thinks of it. It is always interesting to see things from the perspective of people living abroad
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