An American Dream Blog
Not a lot of great things have good beginnings. Some people grow up with financially struggling families, escape from civil wars in their country at a young age, or have lived in highly dysfunctional families. But a harsh beginning never determines a harsh end. Its your classic high school novel cliche whispering that its the journey that matters the most. Well, cliches are cliches for a reason, because they happen a lot and are relevant to most people's lives. America is a country that over time has reached its technologically advanced and sophisticated stage through a tough process and by overcoming many, many barriers that we sometimes look back to with disdain. The American Dream is a symbol of the continuous successes of America that occur as a result of the grit and hard-work of its living, breathing people.
My parents lived through and survived a genocide in Cambodia at a very young age. They were fortunate enough to escape to America safely and reside in Long Beach, CA (The Los Angeles/Long Beach/Santa Ana metropolitan area actually has the highest Cambodian population in America with a count of 44,522 as of 2010). Ever since I was a kid, my parents would always tell me about how important education was in order to be successful in America. They expected me to bring home straight A's and were your typical Asian parents that really wanted you to do well in school (I actually never got straight A's in high school but I think they were more lenient with me because I was the youngest but I digress haha). But looking back, I realize how much they were looking out for me by being strict with my academics. That really did push me to do better in school and without that, I don't know if I would've been as dedicated to academics.
Over time though, I am beginning to develop my own view of what success really is. Perfect grades and ridiculous amounts of figures in your bank account doesn't really spell it out to me as much. To me, success is more like being happy with the relationships in your life, your career, and having enough money to be financially stable and have some fun with it. For example, I want to raise and have a good family, be a real estate agent, and own a really nice model of a Mercedes Benz. To sum up, I believe that the American Dream is being able to achieve whatever your perception of success is regardless of what upbringing you come from. My parents achieved it by raising motivated kids and I plan to achieve my American Dream as well.
My parents lived through and survived a genocide in Cambodia at a very young age. They were fortunate enough to escape to America safely and reside in Long Beach, CA (The Los Angeles/Long Beach/Santa Ana metropolitan area actually has the highest Cambodian population in America with a count of 44,522 as of 2010). Ever since I was a kid, my parents would always tell me about how important education was in order to be successful in America. They expected me to bring home straight A's and were your typical Asian parents that really wanted you to do well in school (I actually never got straight A's in high school but I think they were more lenient with me because I was the youngest but I digress haha). But looking back, I realize how much they were looking out for me by being strict with my academics. That really did push me to do better in school and without that, I don't know if I would've been as dedicated to academics.
Over time though, I am beginning to develop my own view of what success really is. Perfect grades and ridiculous amounts of figures in your bank account doesn't really spell it out to me as much. To me, success is more like being happy with the relationships in your life, your career, and having enough money to be financially stable and have some fun with it. For example, I want to raise and have a good family, be a real estate agent, and own a really nice model of a Mercedes Benz. To sum up, I believe that the American Dream is being able to achieve whatever your perception of success is regardless of what upbringing you come from. My parents achieved it by raising motivated kids and I plan to achieve my American Dream as well.
I love your definition of the American Dream as "being able to achieve whatever your perception of success." One's dreams and goals is often set out based on what they would consider to ultimately make them happy due to their accomplishments. The idea that your perception of success is comprised of healthy relationships and wealth differs from your parents' perception for success comprised of motivated children. Both of these goals are somewhat different as one is a little more personal based (your goals for your life) while the other is future based (your parents' goal for their future generation). This said, the ultimate basis of your definition of the American Dream is that one's success is different than the next, resulting in these hundreds of variations of the one and only great AMERICAN DREAM.
ReplyDeleteGreat description of the American Dream. I like how you differentiate YOUR dream from the belief that you can achieve that dream.
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