A Flawed American Dream

Forget for a minute everything you know about your life and how you live it. Forget your friends and neighbors. Forget about politics and economy. Forget your bills and your job... Now picture a place where people live together, friends, family, neighbors, strangers. They share good ideas and experiences, growing up and raising each other as a community and without competition. Peaceful, friendly, utopian.

Now add the American Dream. def Wikipedia: The American Dream, sometimes in the phrase "Chasing the American Dream," is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of prosperity and success. In the American Dream, first expressed by James Truslow Adams in 1931, citizens of every rank feel that they can achieve a "better, richer, and happier life."

The problem is how we define that better, richer, and happier life. We see better as being smarter and more cultured than our peers. We see richer as being wealthier and having nicer things than our neighbor. We see happier as some intangible improvement over yesterday.

One of my largest takeaways from European culture was their ability to be happy with what they have today. There's no talk of the future as if it's all going to be green pastures, they are able to enjoy the moment more so than we are.

As our culture has looked to fulfill these with items we can purchase; houses, cars, electronics. This issue is compounding ALL of the larger issues we face: (1) Housing Downturn: Unrealistic expectation of ever-increasing home values. (2) National Security: Arrogance and standard of living creates envy and animosity. (3) BP Oil Spill: Manufacturing of petrol-based goods. (4) Wall Street: I needn't say much.

The problem is with entitlement, I struggle with it myself more often than I'd like to admit. I drive a small and old pickup truck. I bought it as a tool to help me work. It's perfectly functional, quite utilitarian, and gets me from point A to point B. I find myself wanting a newer vehicle, one with more room and more creature comforts. Do I really need something newer if what I have is good enough? I have a two year old iPhone, it's beat up but still works. I feel that I should get a new one, that I deserve it. Clothing, computers, the list goes on. I don't NEED these, yet I catch myself wasting time thinking about items. Is it because my friends have such things and I feel as though I'm less because of it?  I try to catch myself when I start to think that these will in some way enhance my life. What do you find yourself thinking about?

We all do it, and rarely slow down to realize what the American Dream is: That we already have a better, richer, and happier life than those before us. We have the ability to enjoy life more than ever before. So please, slow down.