THE AMERICAN DREAM

By E. J. NICHOLAS

They say, “You can be anything you want in life, if you just put your mind to it.”

What happens when you put your mind to it, meditate on it, study it, go to school for it, get a degree in it, start at the bottom and work your way up to it, read every book there is on it, train with award winners and successful people in the field of it, sacrifice everything you have, and could ever want, for it and you still don’t obtain it?

The validity of the above statement looses its American appeal and “star spangled” luster when so many American’s living in the “land of opportunity” are struggling with depression and hopelessness because they have been laid off from a job or cannot obtain the job they truly want. Statements such as, “you can be anything you want in life…” could be bewitching to a generation because not everyone will actually obtain what they think they want out of life. Circumstances that are out of someone’s control may happen to anyone at any time and can drastically change the direction someone would want their life to go in. What happens then? Do we give up? Most people do, because they put their mind to it and give it everything they’ve got but somehow their life takes a turn in a completely different direction then they first imagined it to be. Disappointment, helplessness, low self esteem and even self hatred have a high chance of settling into the mind changing the chemical imbalance in the brain and leaving humans with no relief. A large majority of the population will to turn drugs, sex, or alcohol to bring the chemical imbalance in their brain back to a place of balance or normalcy. While others who have lost all hope will commit suicide. False dreams of success in America, false promises of an American Dream that we can have whatever we want have become a silent killer in our country. When a person who was once determined, strong willed, and even faith filled enters a place of deep depression in the “land of opportunity,” it may be time to raise some questions.

Wouldn’t it be better to say, “Life is unpredictable, go after what you want and if it doesn’t work out fight to be something greater?” This would prepare a person to accept the fact that life is not perfect and then expand their minds empowering him/her to keep going to reach their highest potential no matter what it is. Rather then keeping them bound to one specific goal, that can become an idol or obsession and then take the chance that their entire view of self is effected because they couldn’t obtain it. It leaves one wondering if they are good enough. It can cause someone to question if they really gave it all they had. It can leave one in prisoned in a cycle of analyzing and waisting years of their life trying to obtain something that perhaps was never meant for them in the first place. Are we selling someone a hopeless dream by telling them they can have anything they want? Or would we better off as a nation if we were just honest with others and told them, “Life is unpredictable, go after what you want and if it doesn’t work out fight to be something greater?” How much greater would we be as a nation if what we first wanted wasn’t good enough for us, but we were given hope to continue onward searching for the best?

That answer I leave to you…

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