<p>Many of you are obviously parents. I’m still a student. A non traditional student(at this point) who is aiming for his second shot at what some may call the american dream. Growing up, we’re taught and raised to believe that everything and anything is possibly, particularly because of the "freedom’ that exists in this country. Seeing as many have lived beyond my current age into what is probably “life” how much of dreams, specifically that of the american dream, is a delusion?</p>
<p>Obviously there are the exceptions of those who are upwardly mobile, and who “make it” but compared to the bigger populace of the united states they are not the majority. Forgive me for my assumptions of a conspiracy, but isn’t the american dream just as much as a delusion as is the notion of a god which is used just to control the masses?</p>
<p>Ah, but liek0806, it depends on what you think the dream is. Everyone doesn’t want the same thing. I wouldn’t trade the life I live for a ton of money. I am very happy with my life. As you get older, you sometimes find that your dreams change and that you are glad that the original dream didn’t work out.</p>
<p>I grew up in difficult circumstances and really didn’t get the message of the american dream. Instead, I just did what I enjoyed doing putting in a lot of effort over time and things got better and better over time. Education was part of that. Luck was part of that. The approach of doing more of what worked and less of what doesn’t worked helped.</p>
<p>When I was young, I set a particular goal. When I got to that goal, it didn’t seem like a big deal. I don’t know if I had a particular dream but there are some things that I like to do and I try to do them well and put a lot of effort into them. With children, you have to put a lot of stuff away but I’m hoping to do a lot of other things when they leave the nest.</p>
<p>I recently heard a spot on the radio where business owners were asked what their Aha! moment was in their business. They generally answered that there was no Aha! moment. It was just hard work and focusing on the business over time that made them successful. If you spend your time doing what you like doing or doing things that assist you in doing what you love, the time passes by quickly and hopefully there is job growth, business growth and personal growth to go along with that.</p>
<p>The American Dream is largely the ‘possibility’ of achieving one’s success dreams - not a guarantee. This definitely exists in this country - arguably more so than most countries, even the wealthier ones. I feel very fortunate to live in this country.</p>
<p>There is nothing in the American Dream, as I understand the concept, that guarantees success. So lack of success by some individuals is not necessarily evidence that the dream is false.</p>
<p>What the American Dream guarantees is opportunity and freedom of choice. With opportunity and freedom in hand, success then comes from a combination of talent, hard work, and making wise choices. If you lack one of these three factors your chances of success within the context of the American Dream go way down. </p>
<p>If the country does not provide opportunity or freedom or a person does not provide talent, hard work, or smart choices then failure is likely to follow. So there is no need to invent conspiracies in order to explain the failures.</p>
<p>I don’t think the “American dream” is a delusion at all. Anyone can achieve anything they want in this country, unless they play the victim-game.</p>
<p>Hey, there’s a reason they call it The American Dream rather than say The American Guarantee or The American Conspiracy. And the reason, as others have stated, is OPPORTUNITY. There are places in this world where you need government permission to hold a quiet office party. There are other places where a handful of families control the country’s wealth. And still others where property is expropriated without compensation. </p>
<p>That said, there are other places in the world when people live simpler, happier lives than many Americans do. The Dream is about the opportunity to achieve the life you aspire to. It’s a journey. Along that journey you may discover that money is the EASY part. Good luck with your particular journey.</p>
<p>There is a particularly facile version of the American Dream that is the staple of bad movies and such: “Just believe and you can be anything!” “See it and you can be it!” Err, no. Self-confidence and clarity of goals probably contribute to success, but they are not the only factors!
Also, don’t forget that our consumer culture partly works by keeping us dissatisfied, making us feel we’ve never quite made it until we acquire that one more thing . . .</p>
<p>I live in NYC. To the immigrants here, the American Dream includes the idea that their CHILDREN and grandchildren will lead better lives than they have. </p>
<p>There was an amazing young man who went to my kid’s school–he was significantlly older. Among other things, he was a Presidential Scholar for NY State. He went on to Harvard, where he excelled. He gave one of the student speeches at graduation. He went to the UK to study as a Marshall Scholar. Today, he is a reporter for the NY Times. </p>
<p>The most moving article written by him that I’ve read though is one he wrote for Harvard Magazine, which made its rounds at his old school. His parents were immigrants and his dad drove a cab. They had never been to Harvard. The only car they had access to was the taxi his dad drove. So, they drove up to Cambridge for his graduation in that. They loaded all of his things into the taxi and drove back to NYC. </p>
<p>Well, as they were loading the taxi, friends of his and the friends’ parents and some classmates and their parents who didn’t know him at all came up to congratulate him on his speech. Many people ASSUMED that his mom had HIRED the taxi to drive to the graduation and drive her and her son home. “Boy, how much is that costing you?!!” The son kept trying to explain that the “cabbie” loading the suitcases into the trunk was his FATHER . He describes driving back home along the highway in Mass and Conn with people staring at this bright yellow NYC taxi.</p>
<p>And he realized, more than ever before, how different his life was because his parents had risked everything to move to the US. And, here was his dad, every bit his intellectual equal, who spent six days a week driving 12 hour shifts, while he got to study at Harvard and in the UK.</p>
<p>So, as he got out of the cab, he did the only thing he could think of that would help his dad. He grabbed the cab keys and told his dad he’d drive the next shift for him. And he did. </p>
<p>We live in a community full of immigrants so we can relate. Our own ancestors came to North America 4 generations ago. I am slightly sad to say I know my children will probably not lead better lives than ourselves. They simply do not have the work ethic the great grands, grandparents and parents do. I watch my daughter, who attends a college full of immigrants, and feel a tinge of sadness when she said she couldn’t get better grades because she attends courses full of “smart” people. She does not realize they just work 10 times harder.</p>
<p>I think the stereotype of he American dream is you come from poverty and make millions. That’s something I’ve seen thousands of times working on Wall Street. Whether it’s the older partners who were the son’s of poor immigrants from Europe or much of today’s crowd, children of poor immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe, Wall Street created lots of multimillionaires of people from very humble beginnings.</p>
<p>It’s always interesting to talk to people who have lived this dream. They will mostly tell you it was their parent’s dream as opposed to their own. Many have mixed feeling about being so far from their roots.</p>
<p>Unlike many countries, it’s said that class in America today is determined by education, in a few years you can go from the bottom 5% of income potential to the top 5%. This still can not happen in most countries, and in many countries who your parents and grandparents are still trumps education or prevents you from having access to a good one.</p>
<p>So really, isn’t the American dream alive and well in all the kids here who are first generation/living in poverty/from uneducated worlds…who end up at fine colleges?</p>
<p>It’s not only Wall St. I personally know tens but thousands is not an unreasonable number among our many high-tech companies. That number may actually be far too conservative.</p>
<p>A boy was living with his grandmother because his parents were not around. They ended up being homeless living in a shelter (motel). The story ran in our local paper, a very nice person decided to sponsor the boy to go to my kids’ private school. The kid ended up going to Harvard.</p>
<p>The boy’s dream would not have come true if someone didn’t help out, but he would not have been able to get into Harvard if he didn’t work hard himself.</p>
<p>We are first generation here, my dad worked at a few jobs earning minimum wage before he got a professional job. He put 4 kids through top schools in this country. We don’t make millions, but we all have professional jobs. So, I am a believer of American Dream.</p>
<p>Yes, but don’t forget that you must have drive (most people are lazy)
determination, ambition, whatever you want to call it.</p>
<p>Some native ability helps (most people are lazy AND stupid)</p>
<p>And a little luck helps too.</p>
<p>We were also taught that the American Dream includes the right to fail, in fact many very successful people failed miserably several times before finally achieving their success. (Go back to the part about drive and determination) But now we expect the government to bail us out.</p>
<p>Such good answers above. My own dad worked in a meat locker in NYC’s meatpacking district when there still were meatpackers there. On the weekends he was a catering employee. Mom worked too. While neither of them went to college, all their kids did. All have grad degrees too. My parents greatest legacy was to tell us that what you put in your mind is yours. No one can ever take it from you. </p>
<p>Many people looking at me would think that I got everything handed to me on a silver platter. That would just mean that they don’t know me. I really can’t say that other people would say that I am successful. I won’t be on the board of the Met or a Fortune 500 company. However, I feel successful. I have a great family, and that is really what is most important.</p>
<p>Such good answers above. My own dad worked in a meat locker in NYC’s meatpacking district when there still were meatpackers there. On the weekends he was a catering employee. Mom worked too. While neither of them went to college, all their kids did. All have grad degrees too. My parents greatest legacy was to tell us that what you put in your mind is yours. No one can ever take it from you. </p>
<p>Many people looking at me would think that I got everything handed to me on a silver platter. That would just mean that they don’t know me. I really can’t say that other people would say that I am successful. I won’t be on the board of the Met or a Fortune 500 company. However, I feel successful. I have a great family, and that is really what is most important.</p>
<p>I’ve met a number of Vietnamese ‘boat people’ who came here with no money or resources other than a strong work ethic and an open mind regarding opportunities who have become successful though hard work and whose children have become even more successful. I think most of these people would say they achieved the ‘American Dream’.</p>
<p>It doesn’t mean the American Dream is whether one achieves it. It means the American Dream is about the possibilities. I once talked to a wise, older immigrant saying something to the effect that the American Dream is a misnomer, it is actually a universal dream. Who doesn’t want a decent life? He said I was naive because where he’s from, people can’t even imagine the possibilities, let alone dreaming to achieve it. No matter what happens to the economy right now, I always believe in the American Dream.</p>