The American Dream

This was written by a 13-year-old — for her protection I’m posting this without her name. She wrote this for a class assignment. It blew me away. So powerful. So true.

The American Dream
An American is not only a nationality or a country it is a home and more importantly a mindset, a mindset that is forced into the brain from birth like a key into the wrong lock. Although we say that everyone is equal and are taught from birth to respect others because no matter what we are all given the same opportunities we crave the ability to be more powerful than anyone else in the world. Living in America the most peaceful souls can be forced into superiority and narcissism, and if you jam a key hard enough it eventually will go into the lock even if it doesn’t open the door, and that is they basis of the problem in America. We all believe that we are better than others and want to open every door and therefore every opportunity. The want and belief that every one of us can open that door is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. We are different in the way that we will push as hard as we can even if the dream is unattainable.

Even as kindergarteners, we sit in the classroom and are told all about how every single one of us as long as we try hard and believe could be the president of the United States. However, is it really possible that every kindergartener in a class could become the president? No. So why do we feed the mind at such a young age these ideas when in reality they are impossible to achieve? The answer is simple, we are taught to believe in the American dream, a dream that in truth is a deceiving one. To me, the American dream is the belief that there is a world of opportunities just waiting for anyone and everyone who is willing to try hard and push them self hard enough to reach that world. It is the dream of freedom and equality and complete tolerance for everyone no matter their nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. It is the dream of a better future for the next generation and the dream to learn from past mistakes and put them behind you. More than anything the American dream is a dream of hope and in believing in the wonderful land that America is known as.

However, is this dream truly attainable to all Americans? Does coming to America really guarantee you a life prosperity and happiness? Perhaps it does. Perhaps you will grow up and became a teacher and live in a large house with your husband, who is a successful lawyer and your three kids and golden retriever. Perhaps you will be happy and reach your goals and live a better life then your parents before you. But, perhaps you wont. Maybe you wont be in that small portion of America that actually lives out the American dream. Maybe you wont be the exception. Maybe you will simply be you. Perhaps you are a young boy who has his whole life ahead of him but one day it is late and he is at home with a babysitter when they get a call, his parents both died in a car crash due to a drunk driver. This boy is put into foster care from that young age and when he is about 15 comes out to his close friends that he is gay. Instead of being understanding and supporting him they start to bully him and he gets in with the wrong crowd and starts doing drugs. Is it fair to believe that as long as this boy is given the opportunity he can turn his life around and become the president? Sure there is a very slim chance that this could happen but a much greater chance that it wont. Even for simply being gay this boy will face challenges throughout his whole life and that is not the American dream.

I have two moms and my family should supposedly have equal rights to all straight families and even though I have two successful parents my family is still treated differently. Last year I went to Trenton NJ and testified in front of the judicial committee on behalf of gay marriage rights. I sat in that room for nine hours listening to people stand up and tell the senators why they believed my family and many families like mine should not be given the right to get married. I was also there when the senate voted against marriage equality and I watched as they denied my family a basic civil right. This is not the American dream. The American dream clearly promises equal right to all and a right as simple as marriage is being with held form my family. More than anything this is what sets my personal American dream apart from everyone else’s. No one should have to stand there and listen to all the reasons why their family is weird and different and is not truly a family, but I did. And that is what makes my American dream different I have first hand sat there and had that dream denied.

Only last week three men were abducted, beat and sexually assaulted all on the premises of being gay. One man was thrown into a wall; beat, made to strip naked, hit in the head with a beer can, cut with a box cutter and sodomized with the handle of a wooden plunger. The members of the gang made one of the teenagers burn another victim and that same victim was forced to drink 10 cans of malt liquor, beat with chains and sodomized with a baseball bat. The brother of this man was then beat and robbed simple for being related to someone who was gay. In addition to this, less than a week ago a freshman at Rutgers University committed suicide because he was being teased for being gay.

My dream is that this will stop, that someone with enough power will find the strength within him or her to put an end to all this hate. No one should have to go through what these men went through and I believe that it is the best possible example to explain why I do not think we have achieved the American dream. It scares me to think that these people were hurt so badly for such a stupid reason in America, the land of opportunities. So, what is the modern American dream? Is it the same as mine? Is it the dream to stop hatred and discrimination? Is it the dream to put an end to the crimes that are based solely on the fact that this person is a minority? Maybe that should be the modern American dream however I donâ•˙t believe that it is. The modern American dream is the same as it always has been, less than a dream and more of a race, a race to the finish line leaving all those who are different behind. The modern American dream is a hypocritical statement, simple because not everyone can succeed here. Even though it promises equal rights to everyone, those who are different are left in the dust while everyone else gets a head start.