The Statue of Liberty front shot, on Liberty Island. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As I travel from North to South Italy, I have talked to many fellow travellers, with a large number from North America. Focussing on the Americans, I picked up that many were worried for their children’s future. My sample was typically independent travellers – they were either recently retired professional people or had sold a business. Some described their children as well-educated and in good jobs but the children feared for their future saddled with huge debts and career advancement blockages.
This reminded me of a visit to Los Angeles in 2008, a few months before the financial crash – I was en-route to Australia. I remember vividly a conversation with a Russian taxi driver. I asked him why he had come to America and whether life was better for him and his family. He responded:
In Russia we had a very difficult life. In American, I still have a hard life and must work very hard but next year my daughter will qualify as a doctor…
Returning to Italy, we had befriended an American honeymoon couple, in which he had sold a business and she was a professional – she described her background as very humble and proudly stated that she had worked her way through college earning tips in restaurants and bars. I wonder if it’s still possible to work your way through college?
With the US currently polarized between left and right and news of Mitt Romnay being given the support of the Bilderbergers, it is an exceptionally tough time for middle America. I repeatedly ask myself
Whatever happened to the American dream?
I remember well when young professional or skilled people went to North America because there were greater opportunities. Also I reflect on the people that I have met around the World, like India, who sent their children to the US for education hoping that they would find good jobs there too.
Times are very hard for young people around the World. Many struggle to gain jobs, often saddled with huge debts to finance their education. Increasingly, young people are encouraged to look to better opportunities overseas. It is even harder for those currently in education, worried about their futures.
The American dream provided a beacon welcoming millions of immigrants to America. So again I ask:
Whatever happened to the American dream?
P.S.: When I was still teaching English in Germany, we dealt with the American Dream, too. The subject was either “The American Dream – Now and Then” or “American Dreams – American Nightmares”. It’s the latter, especially the “nightmares” aspect I keep thinking of when I read or watch the news here in the US.
P.P.S.: Just noticed a typo in my previous answer. it should read “That’s what I’ve come up with regarding your question.”
Hi Pit, thanks for your latest reply focussing attention on “American nightmares” rather than the “American Dream”. I wonder if the media is responsible for promoting more “nightmares” than “dreams”?
And it’s even a (much) tougher time for those below “middle America”.
Pit, many thanks for this comment. You are right, of course. I guess that I was targeting Middle America but the American Dream used to belong just as much to the poor and underprivileged. What do you think has happened to the American Dream?
Hi Alf,
What do I think has happened to the American Dream? I’m not too sure.
But first, what IS the American Dream? I believe that different people will have different definitions. At one time, there was the “Manifest Destiny” – which certainly was (part of) the American Dream. And nowadays, even with the economy in dire straits here in the US, there are still the many thousand (illegal) immigrants, who fervently hope to be better off here than in their home country. Then there’s the capitalist who can still make a lot of money here – also an American Dream. There’s the people who (still) believe in American exceptionalism. There’s those who believe that America can teach the world a lesson (in democracy).
All of those are – to my mind – different manifestations of the American Dream, which, I think, is still alive.
What has certainly changed, I believe, is the easy opportunity to rise to the top – which once was the “real American Dream”: “from dishwasher to millionaire”. That aspect, I think has gone down the drain – not only because of the (present) economic downturn, but also because of politics. Well, both are connected, aren’t they?
That’s what I’ve come p regarding your question.
I wish you a wonderful weekend,
Pit
Hi Pit, I very much relate to your comment and tend to agree with all your observations. I particularly like the reference to the “real American Dream” and the description “from dishwasher to millionaire”.
Thanks
Alf