The American Dream

Is the American Dream a Myth or Reality?

325,051,571 people are living in America right now. 43.3 million of them are immigrants. 43.3 million families, children, hardworking citizens, all seeking the same thing, the American Dream. Are we all searching for something that isn't actually acquirable?

It's all about what you're searching for, freedom seems to be a common theme. For the immigrants here, being able to believe what you want is a luxurious freedom. Think about that, you can be imprisoned and tortured because you believe something different. Being different and diverse is not celebrated, it puts a big red target on your back. Can you imagine walking around with a number of rights that you can count on one hand, and the inability to have opinions about your own life. Can you imagine your children growing up hungry and ill, not because you aren't working hard enough, but because the government collects all the money you work to make, deals it back out to all the citizens, and of course keeps a good amount for themselves. 94 million deaths can be attributed to communism between 1900 and 2000 (Reason.com). That’s what immigrants are fleeing from, they come from conditions we cannot begin to imagine, from countries that aim to have identical citizens that keep their mouths closed and eyes shut but keep their hands working, creating capital. America is a safe haven for many immigrants who crave basic human rights. How lucky are we, we can march in the streets and scream how we feel at the top of our lungs and our brothers and sisters will stand behind us and scream alongside. We can go for a run and feel a tad parched, then purchase a clean drinkable water. We can go and vote for our leaders. We can buy the car and house of our dreams. We can, oh how we take our lives for granted. We live in a country that has flaws, no doubt, but gives us the ability to fix these problems. Therefore the American Dream is Real.

All this in mind the American Dream is considered a sham to many. Two thirds of immigrant households are living in/on the verge of poverty (the Atlantic). "I don’t believe in the American dream anymore. Nothing comes by just being here. You got to focus on bettering yourself and your family, by hard work and education. Be yourself, be true to you, not some dream, but you." -Chaka, Albany NY (The Atlantic). The idea that a dream can save your family from poverty and hunger is a sad falsity, people believe that by having a dream, all their problems can be solved. A dream cannot save you from anything, but you can. You have to work for everything. Nothing will be handed to you just because you're in America now. In fact it could be harder to be an immigrant in America, 84% of immigrants report not being paid time-and-a-half after working 40 hours (the New York Times). The idea that a dream will come true because it’s happening in America is farfetched, especially nowadays.

The American Dream cannot be defined by one singular definition because it means so many things to so many different people. For some it's the right to education, in the United States we are required education until the age of sixteen, while other countries send their children to sweatshops and factories. Maybe it’s the right to say whatever you want, in some countries doing this would get you gunned down and tortured. What about the right to “innocent until proven guilty” we all have the right to a fair trial (Jackie Aselta). In North Korea, citizens are executed for crimes that varying from stealing a few kernels of corn to anything, punishments are opinionatedly chosen by the leader. There are 6,000,000 woman living in countries where domestic violence is not a crime, every year up to 5,000 women are murdered as honor killings. Girls as old as 12 can be beaten, strangled, stoned, and buried alive for thinking about choosing what they want to wear or who to marry (International Women's Rights). These statistics are horrid, and the worst part is, nobody can stop it. If you're a woman in these countries you have no freedoms or rights, you are property and nobody can save you from that. These women dream of a place that they can sleep soundly at night, not fear for their lives, these young girls deserve to grow up knowing that was no way to live, that they are not property or objects, they are human beings and they matter. They deserve to speak when they want to and wear what they please. The American Dream is real for them. The American Dream of being able to live like the rest of us Americans is real, they can wear they want, and marry whomever they please, these are the freedoms of The American Dream. To be able to live the way you want to live is the American Dream and in America that’s exactly what you do, live freely.

So is the American Dream a reality? Yes, not 50% of the population has rights, not 25%, 100%. One-hundred percent of our legal citizens have one-hundred percent of American rights. The American Dream is not about having lots of money, or a powerful job, it's not even about having a nice house, it's about how free we are. It’s about how much you can do here that you couldn't do anywhere else. It's the opportunity to do anything and be anyone you want without anyone else dictating your boundaries. For all we take for granted there and millions who dream of having the little things we have, because here, freedom is free.