"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

The other day, the kids at my school were interviewing others around them - taking surveys and collecting answers to their question.

How would you define the American Dream?

They never asked me, but it got me thinking. I live in an era where there are three different views of the American Dream based on generation. For the Baby Boomers and older, this dream is the wealthy, upper-class lifestyle. For Generation X and Millennials, it's just living comfortably with a successful, plenty of money life.

Side note: Millennials are the ones born in the 80s and 90s. As much as it doesn't make sense to me either, that's the definition. I guess it's because they lived to see the turn of the generation instead of my generation, Generation Z. Millennials are often confused with Generation Z, which are the ones born in the late 90s and 2000s. We are not the same as them.

Speaking of Generation Z, our idea of the American Dream is very different from our parent's generation and older. The survey these kids did at my school brought a very unanimous answer from their peers.

The American Dream doesn't exist.

Why is that? Why has our vision of the American Dream depleted so much to the point to where we're even questioning its existence? There were some students that gave an answer other than disapproving it, sure, but the results were very basic. They were almost desperate.

"It's just being able to have a place to live, food to eat, and a steady job."

That's not a dream. That's everything we need to survive. A dream is so much more than that.

How did that happen?

I'll tell you why that happened: Generation Z is what I like to call the "Watch and Learn" Generation, because that's all I've seen them do. We see the mistakes of our parents, our grandparents, and so forth, and we learn from them.

My Mom didn't go to college; I decided to double-major and minor at Ball State University. My Dad had a two-faced friend for over 20 years and was to afraid to end the friendship because that was all he had; I immediately cut off my friendship with someone who was extremely toxic and was doing me more harm than good. I come from a family of divorces, people marrying really young and the relationships never lasted, and their kids had to suffer; but I am an aromantic - I don't feel the romantic attraction to get married early and face divorce.

We watched our family chase after the American Dream again and again only to find that it never worked; in fact, things got worse. We read books like "Of Mice and Men" and "The Great Gatsby" and discover the protagonists made the same mistakes as our parents - and it was before they were even born!

We watched their mistakes, and we learned.

We stopped chasing for something we know we couldn't catch. We quit trying to search for something we know we couldn't find. We quit believing in the American Dream.

It's a sad reality, but in reality, it's not all that bad. I see the appeal behind giving up, really, I do; living the rest of your life comfortable and failure-free? That sounds ideal - that sounds like our own American Dream.

But anybody successful out there knows that living comfortable and failure-free won't keep you happy your whole life, and it definitely won't take you anywhere further than where you're at right now. In order to move forward, our Generation has to learn to stop observing and take a risk on their own.

We can't give up searching, not yet.

Learn from the mistakes of our parents, sure, but not trying at all is worse than trying something new. Lower your expectations, but keep striving as far as you can.

I was in a musical once, and it was "Mary Poppins." There was a line that stuck with me since I had to rehearse it, but I carried it with me even after the show ended.

"If you reach for the stars all you'll get are the stars, but we've got a whole new spin. If you reach for the heavens, you get the stars thrown in."

So that's what I do.

I reach for the heavens, with the hopes of only making it to the stars, but if I go further, then that makes my success even better. And that's exactly how we should aim for the American Dream.

Make it big, but also attainable. Something that isn't completely while like how our parents and grandparents had it. You don't have to have an abundance of wealth to be happy. Money really can't buy you happiness. Sure it can buy you things that make you happy, but you need to look at the facts. You buy a trip, and it's over in a week. You buy a pet, the pet dies. You buy food, you eat it. Nothing ever lasts, but you.

The American Dream shouldn't be about wealth and prosperity. It shouldn't be about the impossible, it's about the possible. It should be called the American Goal instead - because a goal is only a dream with a deadline.

And we all have deadlines.

For me, my American Dream is simple. It's attainable, not money-focused and it's able to make me happy for the rest of my life. My best friend Lily and I plan on moving in together after university into a little apartment in Seattle.

That's it.

There's nothing else to the dream except living with her in Seattle. It could be the tiniest apartment in the world, and it would be fine by me. We could be dirt poor and barely have enough to eat and I'll be more than content with life - because she makes me happy. Seattle makes me happy. Combining both into one goal with a deadline of five years: that's my perfect American Dream.

Now to some of you, your dream could simply be "start a family and settle down with the kids in a suburban neighbourhood," and that's fine. It's your dream. It's your goal, but remember your deadline.

It's too early to give up just yet. Our lives have only just begun. We haven't even started.

So, let's begin.