Few can say that there is not an entrepreneurial spirit about America. The idea of succeeding from meager beginnings is a story that is older than our country itself. But, there is too much placed on the economic aspect, and not enough on the societal.
Normally, when “the American Dream” is brought into discussion, it is followed by some amazing story of rags-to-riches, many times involving an immigrant. Now, these stories are very touching and inspiring, but are they still relevant in this down-turned economy?
The first time the term was coined was in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America.
The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.1
Between this usage and the modern, the translation has been lost about “not a dream of motor cars and high wages...” Where is that American Dream where we collectively pull up our bootstraps and lift each other out of trying times? Our society has become extremely cynical over the last three decades, and not without reason. But is our American dream dead?
The current economic situation begs us to act with bold and brave measure. On the other hand, we as Americans have not endured this kind of hardship in at least one generation. More and more people are finding they will have to subside on less and less. But it could be worse.
Let me describe that life I envisioned. The adjustment to it will not be easy. The hours we may work at our usual jobs may actually decrease, but our workday will easily double. We may have a conventional job, but also a community job that will pay us not in cash, but in trade and barter.
I know what many of your community jobs will be. I went and perused the auction catalogues from years past. I know who the cooks will be. I know who will bake and who will brew and who will quilt and who will design the gardens and who will fix things. Some of you will create pottery, others poetry. And the writers and musicians and jugglers and storytellers will be needed as well. With a 14-16 hour workday, television sets will be useless. We will have no time to watch. The golf courses will be repossessed and turned into community gardens and cow pastures. Doctors returning home from their shift at the hospital will make rounds in the neighborhood. Industrial chemists will transform their basements into apothecary laboratories.
And perhaps none of this will come to pass, but it could. And, if it did people would find some way to survive. This picture that I am painting is far from utopian by the way. What would cause a situation like the one I’ve described to come to pass is a kind of apocalyptic economic shifting that would make 1929 seem tame. Such an event would leave the widest conceivable gap between the ultra-rich and the lowliest of the poor. And there will be 21st Century Robin Hoods. Pharmaceutical workers will post instructions on how to create the newest drugs on-line. Hackers will steal Wi-Fi signals and tap into the power grid. The black market will rival the free market.
History is not without stories like the vision I am projecting: While some forms of radical religion left England to come to the colonies in the form of Puritans, Pilgrims, and Quakers, England had many other radical religious groups that decided to stay including groups known as the Diggers and Levelers that aspired to take back the land from royalty. There was the French Revolution. But, we can also look to countries across the globe where the ultra-rich live alongside extreme poverty. I doubt few in this room would happily trade places with a Saudi Arabian prince or an African general in a country under military rule. I will admit to not knowing much about those lives, but it seems to me that if you owe your security to armed personnel on your payroll, rather than to the safety found in common prosperity, you are living a type of life that I would not like to live.2
The American Dream is actually more about ALL of us succeeding together. So band with your neighbors and volunteer your time. Despite all the gloomy news coming at us from the talking box, we are still the masters of our own destiny. Our collective destiny. The American Dream is not dead.
Sources:
1http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/97/dream/thedream.html
2http://revthom.blogspot.com/2008/09/sermon-future-of-american-dream.html
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I don't think the "American dream" is dead--it's just been rather dormant for awhile. This current economic crisis is likely what we as a society need in order to shake the dust off of our dreams and kick our complancy out the door. It causes us to re-evaluate what's important in our lives and shift our focus accordingly. Within these shifts, we can try to build a better life for ourselves and our kids, not through the pursuit of excesses and consumerism but by simply interacting and spending quality time together with those we love. Perhaps then, the focus of our "American dream" will shift.
ReplyDeleteBeing a US citizen living in Mexico, I cringe every time I hear the phrase "American dream" in the media. By and large, US citizens that are considered poor in the US would be doing alright in the eyes of much of the rest of the world. When I hear the phrase "American dream" while in Mexico, I envision a people that already have more than plenty stretching their hands out to grab yet more. And I fear that many Mexicans who hear that phrase think the same. In our hearts we, as Americans, know that life has little to do with rampant consumerism that the rest of the world sees in us. However, do we know how to change this image?
If the American dream is to be woken up from the coma it has been in, let's refashion this dream to one that celebrates those things that make life worth living. And may this make us a more compassionate people in the end.