The American Dream, something known worldwide as the ability of anybody to become anybody they want to be. Sadly, I feel that the means of how to become the person you want to be has changed in the minds of many. In the past, it was known that to achieve the American Dream, someone would work their hardest toward their goal in hopes that the opportunity would come. But now it seems that people feel they should be given this opportunity without putting in the effort.
For some reason, people are expecting to be handed their golden opportunity on a silver platter and automatically become successful. People think that because they are in America they should easily be able to become a wealthy doctor or astronaut. These people will claim that they are not getting to live the American Dream. However, the American Dream is not success itself, but rather being given the ability to succeed. Many will say that they do not have the ability to succeed, when in reality, no American citizen is denied that right. I will not ignore the fact that some are more tragically struck than others, and some environments make it much harder to achieve success, but everybody does have the opportunity. Some born into poverty in an inner city say that it is impossible to escape the inner city life. Despite this being proven wrong time after time, many still believe it to be true.
A great example to me is Dr. Ben Carson. Carson was born in Detroit, a poverty-stricken city that many believe they cannot escape. Actually just a few miles south of where I live. Carson’s mother was under-educated herself. She actually dropped out of school in the third grade. Despite being a single mother of two children, she pushed her sons to read, educate themselves, and believe that they could succeed. At the time, he was just another poor student, but by pushing himself, and educating himself, Carson was able to receive academic honors and eventually attended medical school. By the age of 33 Carson became the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was responsible for groundbreaking work in separating conjoined twins. But he did not stop there. Carson got involved in politics and had a run in the 2016 presidential race. If Ben Carson’s story doesn’t scream “American Dream” I don’t know what does. Carson single-handedly proved that being oppressed by your environment does not mean you cannot succeed.
We as Americans need to get back our hardworking, groundbreaking, ass kicking roots. A lot of that can come from taking pride -- not just in the opportunities you are given, but in yourself. Like Ben Carson’s mother told him to do, believe in yourself, and believe you can succeed. I guarantee you will have a better shot taking that route than saying “I can’t do it” or thinking that you're forced into a situation that limits your success. The only limit to success in the United States is yourself.
It is a simple fact of life that success will not just be handed to you. If you think that you deserve success, or it is owed to you, I hate to tell you, but you are wrong. However, you do deserve the opportunity to be successful, everybody does. The USA is the land of opportunity, and anyone who says that is wrong should be told the story of Ben Carson, who is just one of countless Americans to seize the opportunity of the American Dream.
