Everyone has had a conversation on the "American Dream" and if you haven’t, just you wait. It's like a milestone in your coming of age. You’ll either have a friend bring it up at the lunch table, or you’ll over hear it as your parents argue in whispers after dinner about their future. You’ll most definitely hear it in a classroom, English or History, most likely. Your professor will play devil’s advocate and argue that this dream exists and that it doesn’t. Or your professor will walk in, stand in the middle of the room, and yell “THE AMERICAN DREAM IS BULLSHIT!”
I’ve never been thrown into this conversation so violently. I loved it.
“Can’t you smell it?”
Oh boy, I can smell it. I can feel myself basking in this heavy brown sludge. I can feel the warmth radiating from it (sorry that’s gross, but I’m sure you can understand the fire that burst within me.) There is no playing devil’s advocate: The American Dream is a myth (another word for bullshit.) Our culture has changed in so many ways, beginning with hunters-and-gatherers who followed an egalitarian society, where resources were traded and success was shared. Then agriculture happened (if you’ve ever read "Ishmael," then you know we can basically blame agriculture for everything), and people decided to take it upon themselves to grow their own things. It was now: “We don’t need help. We don’t need others.” It was all about the self, the I. From there came the Industrial Revolution, which made things worse. Now there are factories, industries, and businesses. There are people owning other people, using money to establish power, and using each other in order to better themselves. Now it is 2016: 40% of the U.S. population are poor, and 1% basically own everything.
How can there be an American Dream speaking of opportunity and social mobility through hard-work and dedication when there are thousands of workers in Baltimore, dedicating over 40 hours of their week to sweat and toil, only to be paid minimum wage in a society where that isn’t even enough to put food on the table? How can my parents look me in the face and tell me I’ll become a successful adult, living a comfortable life with a family in a beautiful three-story home, when its been 19 years and they still struggle to pay the rent and keep their kids in private schools that’ll give them better opportunities than the city's public ones? How can we talk about an American Dream when 1% own 99% of the wealth.
Hey, I’m not saying it’s impossible to move up this terrible hierarchy that history has created. It’s improbable but not impossible. Just know that you are sitting on a pile of feces and it's up to you to decide whether or not you’re going to get up, wipe yourself off, and stick a middle finger to the world.
Anger may be the first reaction, but anger won’t get us to a new dream. Life is not some American Dream. Life is joy and happiness. I suggest a ukulele. Just think about it, wherever there is a ukulele there is joy. This is what life is all about. It’s that shower after a long day. It’s that hot chocolate near the fire after playing in the snow. It’s that feeling you get when you are lost in the lyrics of your favorite song. It’s looking into the face of your significant other.
It’s that feeling where your soul is so light and bright, you can feel it to your core. It’s so refreshing. It’s love.
