globeadventureshorizons


Monday, May 16, 2016

THE NEW AMERICAN DREAM


 







Does the American dream consists only
of getting a house?  Not at all


Pastel kitchen
D
uring the fifties, as the Eisenhower years were unfolding, getting a home was the hallmark of a family being built as well as the society. More than a sign of success and individual accomplishments, for a family-man to end up in his own house has been regarded as a proof of hard work and so he was looked upon with respect. The nuclear American family, with children gathering for dinner and holding the ritual summer's end garage sale, seemed to be the bright side of an America showing the world that there was for sure something  good in its enduring dream.

A long time later, to this business-oriented society, particularly in the early seventies, other values started  to count in the US society; among them more and increasingly was education, a taste for public service and for what America is supposed to embody to the overseas world. Without doubt, entrepreneurship and an obvious sense of risk in business or somewhere else continued to matter. But, as immigrants from anywhere were rushing to America, the need to redefine the American dream made the US in the 20th century a special country and this 20th century became the epitome of  the American one.

https://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ny61.jpg The dream became then the size of a legend when immigrants started to get a piece of the big apple. NY, NY the  Frank Sinatra song had even contributed that way. Happening especially to people starting from scratch, success held some magic. Crossing the Rio Grande, Mexican immigrants bought cars after less than  two years of cutting lawns at Jamaica Estates, NY. Blessed by selling coats and woolen caps in Downtown Manhattan, a Philippine resident brought his family over here. Truly, America was more than the country of opportunities; it was as well the country that rewards patience and continuing perseverance.
Today, this magic dream has now longtime been reduced in money, house and family, and tends more and more to switch to other symbols as the middle class jobs have seemingly disintegrated. Money is no longer the only barometer of success in the American society. The fact that youths and adults spend a good deal of time in libraries and schools make education the new fuel of the social body. Americans want more than a house. It’s another way to affirm that the American dream is enlarging,
 
We can understand why with its desire to learn and improve, America strives also for innovation and creativity. That is also the best part of the American dream

 Queens, Jamaica , November 15, 2013









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