The American Dream has always been an awkward subject for me. I have seen the American Dream from two main sides. Both of my parents went to college and began working soon after, eventually having blossoming careers. My mother came from an set of immigrant parents (Czechs), who never went to school past the eighth grade, with four brothers, all who succeeded by having their own business, the military, an oil company and the hopsital business. All five children worked and paid for their own education and worked to afford what they have today--four of them, all married, with two kids. My dad was a military brat who eventually made it to UT Law. After my parents married, they did work their way up the ladder--an apartment to a small house to an apartment to finally, a suburban cookie cutter two-story with a green door. My parents would do anything to provide my brother and I with a good example
of how to live--they have always told us to work hard and do what we want. With that in mind, I've had a job since I was 15, doubled up on AP courses, and upon entering college I was already a sophomore by hours. This, however, comes with the thought that getting an education is the way to get to do what you want, and the way to make money. I feel my parents sometimes think that if someone doesn't have an education then they can't succeed as well. This idea is contrasted by the fact that their siblings didn't have college experience, and some are far more "successful" (by money standards) than my parents combined.
The other side I see is from a close friend's perspective, coming from the newly socialized Venezuela. After their current president came into office, he quickly began a Robin Hood regime of taking from the rich and giving to the poor. However, when the "rich" earned their money from working up the ladder, and not from inheritance, it's hard to comprehend why they would be part of this system. So, under these circumstances, my friend moved here from Venezuela to live the American Dream, and as far as anyone is concerned, his mother and him have done just that. After moving here and getting into an apartment, his mother got a job at a retail store, and he got a job at a local hotel. Eventually, his mother ventured into the realestate business and became employed. They have now moved out of the apartment, live in a house, and have two new cars. Upon talking about leaving his "homeland" to come here, he does not seem upset, rather grateful, saying that America has an economy where anyone can rise and live the way they want to. Maybe to truly live the American Dream, you have to appreciate that America does have a very easily broken into economy. Legal, illegal, rich, or poor, if one works for it, they can most likely achieve it...or so we dream.
(P.S. I love Maine.)
I'm really happy that I go to a school that seems to always book good speakers. Francis Bok was the one that impacted me the most, followed by Tim Wise. But the difference is obvious. Both speakers spoke about oppressed groups, but one was actually the oppressed. Bok's experiences are something that I believe Americans can't fully comprehend. Yes, we've all heard the stories, and know the history, but we don't still live in that state of slaverly and injustice. There is not a day in my life that I have thought that I would be fleeing from someone, let alone be enslaved or mistreated for something that I had no control over.
