Before I get any hate for this, let me throw out a disclaimer: I do not hate America (completely), and I do not 100 percent reject the idea of the American dream.
Many people, if you were to ask whether they consider themselves a school person or a work person, would choose the latter. Many people say that they're just not made for school or that school is not their thing. This is probably partly because we are required to spend almost the first two decades of our lives learning, and many of us continue to go to school even after that. It's a lot to handle, and most people want out. I, however, am the opposite. I hate working. Granted that I'm only going on 20 and haven't been able to work many jobs, I still hate it. I am made to learn and be in school. It's my thing, and it is what I'm good at. This is my core presupposition that leads me to believe what I do about the labor system that makes up the long-yearned-for American dream.
What I learned about the American dream when I was in school (although the history curriculum in primary schools is terrible -- but that's an opinion for another article) was that America was the place where anyone and everyone could bring their families, and, if they just worked hard enough, could make a better, comfortable life for themselves. It was the simple idea that hard work would guarantee results and happiness. Moving up the totem pole in America required nothing but dedication and a good work ethic. However, as I learned was the case then, and still is now, many immigrants who came to America searching for this dream found nothing. They were placed into sweatshops and had to face the reality that the American dream is a system for the privileged. There was no room for them in the American dream. It was, and is, a lie that I have never believed. The American dream does not exist for the majority of its citizens. Hopefully, most people are aware of this already.
However, even if I were to entertain the idea that truly and honestly working from the bottom to top is, or ever was, possible in this country, I still come up with a few issues. What I reject about this idea in its entirety, or what it developed into, is that it implies life is not worth anything unless you are able to make lots of money. The greed we Americans have is unfathomable. And in America, the amount of money you need to make to really achieve anything requires slaving through job after job, and giving your whole life away to the broken system. But if or when you actually do this, what do you have?
After you have spent your whole life being a slave to America's greed, what do you get to do with it? What you have is a very real lack of experience, and no time left to buy any of the experiences that you missed out on. Because, guess what -- you spent all of your life working. What kind of a life is that? The irony kills me. A life devoid of real experience is missing the whole point. But, hey, if you have money, you've apparently achieved it all.
Furthermore, the American dream is not big enough for failure. I reject this with every fiber I am made of. The American dream leaves no room for bumps in the road or mistakes. If someone is down on their luck, no matter how hard they have worked, they are seen as nothing. Americans hate the poor -- don't act like you don't see it. Anyone whose American dream has been interrupted by a lay-off, or any other circumstantial misfortune, is immediately thrown out of the game altogether. We care nothing about anyone else's journeys but our own, leaving anyone who needs nothing but a little bit of a pick-me-up completely out of luck. There is no empathy or compassion. It is a dog-eat-dog world when one is trying to achieve the dream.
Of course, I don't hate hard work, and I do enjoy the lessons one can learn from honest determination. This is why I'm in college: I know that to get where I want to be, I have to put in time and effort. It is not that I am an entitled youth that expects to be handed everything in life, which is what everyone seems to think of me and my generation. I know the value of work; I just put my work into school (which, remember, I do not get paid for) instead of the labor force. I put work into writing and editing. I put work into myself every day. Do not tell me that I do not deserve happiness because I despise working, and do not tell me, "That's not how the world works." My naivety is something I can figure out on my own, if need be.
I thoroughly enjoy the idea that America is the land of opportunity. and the idea that everyone is (rather, should be) open and available to those opportunities. While I despise the fact that we have no real choice but to work and get dragged into the system, and some of our opportunities are inherently taken away or denied because of this, it's not an idea that has been completely lost. My youthful view is this: if I know anything about myself, it is that I have the determination to find the opportunities I need to make myself happy, whether I spend my life in an office or not, whether or not I achieve the metaphysical status of achieving "the dream" or not.
I have my own dream, thank you very much.
