The American Dream

'The American Dream' immediately makes me think of a little suburban house with a white picket fence, a father with a lousy job that pays the bills, a beautiful wife with three children and a perfect little dog, but it means much more than just that. The American Dream is rooted within the Declaration of Independence, with "all men are created equal and that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". The Founding Fathers introduced the revolutionary idea that each person's desire to pursue their idea of happiness was not self-indulgence, but a necessary driver of a prosperous society. The essence of 'The American Dream' implies an opportunity for all Americans to achieve prosperity through hard work. No matter your background, social status, wealth, or ethnicity, you can arise and attain your greatest hopes and dreams.

It is a common expression to say that 'money can't buy happiness', while American society is essentially based on the fact that it can. To me, happiness is determined by a focus on more of what really matters, such as creating a meaningful life, contributing to community and society, valuing nature, and spending time with family and friends. But with the romanticization of the 'American Dream', the definition of happiness began to change. Happiness was driven by a greed for wealth, determined by the acquisition of material things, seen clearly in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. American society has essentially romanticized the idea of wealth, and completely flipped the concept of the 'American Dream' put in place by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence.

In American society, happiness is completely reliant on wealth. People in poverty are looked down upon, and people with wealth are deemed successful. Success is dependent on how much money you make, what house you can afford to live in, what car you can afford to drive. And that is the 'American Dream'. Having a nice house with a white picket fence, a well-cared for family, a lousy job that pays the bills, and a lovely wife and children with a perfect little dog is living the American Dream, living with ultimate happiness, and that is all reliant on having the amount of wealth to uphold it.

A reflection: who I am now and who I wish to become.
While I could say that I believe money can't buy happiness, you may not believe me. I live in a relatively wealthy family, with three nice cars, three lovely children, and two loving parents in a nice neighborhood, and while I lack the white picket fence, I would say that we live the 'American Dream'. My parents have great jobs and have worked hard to acquire the amount of wealth that they have, and they represent the notion that all Americans can achieve prosperity through hard work. But, that doesn't determine our happiness. I can tell you right now that I am not the happiest person on Earth, and my family isn't either. I hope that the 'American Dream' I am supposedly living in is not the 'American Dream' that means reaching ultimate happiness. Because I still have so much to learn, so many people to meet, so many places to see, and so many things to realize about myself. And that's what determines happiness, not the number in my bank account.