The American Dream

A Dream That Deludes Us

The “American dream”, the two very particular words that have lingered in everyone’s mind across the entire world for almost a century ever since the American writer James Adams made a memorable proposal in 1931 about one’s deserving living standard in America, “Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”. But what is the truth behind such sugary words? And how do people picture this prosperity?

Most people on this planet including me, would assume that the “American Dream” is about achieving a life standard that many others from outside the America cannot accomplish. Through the media, it is often presented to us as the idealistic vision of a happily married couple, with a few lovely, obedient kids, owning a house with a small garden near the ocean or the peaceful woods, driving nice cars and playing with their dogs during the weekends. Everyone is satisfied and free from stress and life pressures. Everyone is well-fed and has the ability to afford a higher level of entertainment. Dad is the undertaker of the family who is kind and solvent, who is selfless and intelligent. Everyone in the neighborhood loves each other’s family, and no one ever shows a single sign of hatred. It is a life that is so pure, so unsophisticated and so beatific that there is no room for a single bit of adversity.

It sounds so naïve isn’t it? The people around the world, especially those who live in America are trying to pursue it so desperately because of its purity, yet they fail to really examine it closely and discover what it truly is. They cannot tell if it’s a dream that can be achieved or just an idea that exists only in philosophy. Or maybe it’s a callously advertised lie created and forged by media that is deeply disguised by masks, they intend to make people believe the greatness of the America, but the truth can be completely opposite.

First of all, let’s talk about the word “illusion”, when we witness an illusion, we perceive something that does not correspond to what is actually out there – what exists in real world. Illusions fool us. They convince us of things are not true. Dictionary definitions of illusion usually state that an illusion is a sensory perception that causes a false of distorted impression, or a misrepresentation of a “real” sensory stimulus. In short, Illusions are misperceptions that are perceived by most people. They are so convincing that people tend to believe them instead of the truth that is lying right beside the illusions, and those who possess weaker minds start becoming delusional because of the failure of identifying the true or false and starting to pursue in the wrong direction. And what does that remind you of? The “American Dream”, because the idea is so perfect that it sounds completely unrealistic and unpractical, the dream is impossible to achieve, and it is created to distract people, it is but an illusion that strikes wrong impressions, impressions that mislead those who desire hope, happiness, commonwealth and so called freedom.

So, does this “American Dream” ever existed? To me, no, just like Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize winner stated, “the American Dream is a myth”. And even if it did actually exist somehow in the past, it is not anymore. But once there was an era, about 60 years ago, an era of good union jobs, comprehensive employer benefits, and real upward mobility. You put down your heads and you work hard as you can, no matter what job you are assigned to do, plumbers, factory workers, etc., you could still own a nice little house; middle class was all over the place. But now, now the middle class is vanishing, the wage hasn’t risen in 15 years for the middle class and median household income has fallen since the financial crisis of 2008, while income for the wealthiest of Americans has actually risen, which is leaving home ownership to only the richest people. Also, the contrast between the media-deluded “Dream” and the open-eyed reality of America society today is astonishing. On the news, there are no obese people on TV, but when you stand on the street and look around, they are all around you. Houses look huge and clean on TV – guess you don’t see that everywhere in real life, think of Detroit for example. On the television, there are no trash-infested sidewalks, and everyone is polite and has decent manners. Well, I guess if you believed everything on the TV, you’d be driving a dozen Lamborghinis on Hollywood hills today.

In my book, the “American Dream” can also be translated as the “American Illusion”. And today’s reality proves my point, unfortunately. There are tens of millions in America cannot work hard and make their dreams come true simply because of the overwhelming competition and the lack of jobs. The healthcare and welfare systems are unequal and warped that they only perpetuate the socioeconomic inequalities. In truth, only a few people realize it while the rest continue to struggle to avert poverty. And the biggest surprise about this whole so-called “American Dream” skit is not that only so few can actually taste it, grasp a tip of it and make it somewhat come true. Rather, it is the fact that even those who do succeed are not any happier because they have given up and sacrificed way too much to get to this point of success, they end up losing the ability to aspire, to love, to desire and to pursue happiness. And you cannot call that the “American Dream” because it simply lacks the very essence of this particular idea – Happiness.

My family and I’s perspectives towards the “American Dream” were very limited because we were born and raised in a completely different culture. Everything about America that we learned was via the movies produced and presented by Hollywood movie studios, and because of that, there was an image that kept haunting me for years in my childhood time – A gigantic group of poorly dressed Irish and Italian immigrants standing on an enormous steam-powered ship, gazing into the grand empire bay in New York, admiring the great statue of liberty, praising the lofty Empire State Building and the entire metal forest on Manhattan island. Their faces are overwhelmed by happiness and endless joy, they are thanking god and thinking about how lucky they are that they get to escape their own countries and come to the land of opportunity and forge a future that is called the “American Dream”. Yet they fail to realize that, after they step off the boat, after they pass the health inspection in Ellis island, they will head off to the living hell that provides lowest and dirtiest living condition, way worse than what they could even imagine. The apartments were infested with rats and mold, the area is controlled and manipulated by the mafia, and the immigrants are forced to become cheap labors, and waste their entire lifetime doing such things until they die. Some become a part of the mafia family, they successfully make a fortune out of killing, stealing, being a puppet, then they end up shot dead by their own mob “friends” or cops. However, there are so few that come across a lucky opportunity, they grasp it, and they find salvation. But the chance and the number of people who saved themselves from the devil are so insignificant that there is no way you can call this a dream come true, for those who succeed, it is, but what about the rest? The “American Dream” is also about the commonwealth, and reality so far away from it.

For those Irishmen and Italians back then, this dream sounds more like a horrifying one, no hope, no future, no salvation, just like today, the age when middle class is dying; the word “family” is becoming unimportant; one’s idea is getting insignificant; people are losing faith in politics and economy; there is no stay-home mom taking care of children; the current generation and is paying all the debt that the America has, the next generation will do the same; there is no way out.

“For many, the American Dream has become a nightmare.” – Bernie Sanders.