Will We Watch Our American Dream Fade Away?

It seems as though many of the people during the past decade sought to be financially secure before anything else. Money was the way to everything, and without it, nothing could be attained. It was the building block to everything else they did, and could determine much of what your life would represent. Though this appeared to be the majority, it was not true for 100% of the people during the time. To some, such as women, politics was the way to the American Dream...success, happiness, and contentment.

For many, the American Dream was to be successful in life, raise a family, get

married, and live happily ever after. But the question that lurked was “how” to achieve that. For my subject, my father, his main goal was to get educated in order to move up in the business world, get to a point where he could make a sufficient enough salary to support a family, buy a home, and live in happiness. That was his dream,his goal. Looking at his case, before he could attain money, he needed the education. Yet the main idea of his goal was to reach the money, and things would escalate from there. He would soon be able to support a family and live as an American family.

When you hear it said that the 80’s was about material possessions...money, etc.,

you might be lead to believe the wrong thing. Yes most people needed money during the

time, but it wasn’t to buy foreign cars or 65” TV sets. It was to ensure your family and

yourself of a future, somewhere to be in five years. It was an effort that was driven by

emotion and will and a want to succeed. That is how I see it. I do not see it as it appears on the exterior, which is a money hungry craze. Because I think during that time, people were not so worried about having the fancy car, or having the huge house. Having a

loving family and a house to come home to is luxury enough, and says more than a car ever could.

For some, such as another subject interviewed who was a young woman during the past decade, it appeared as if the American Dream was more self focused, but at the same time, targeted toward their “kind.” Of course I am referring to those women who were still promoting the issue of equal treatment for women and the entire women’s recognition issues.

To this group of American citizens, the American Dream came through

recognition, and through that recognition, establishing th...

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...k to make money, and to succeed, just as anyone will/does, whether they realize it or not.

This is what I see as the American Dream, but it, in my opinion, is not concrete by any means. I think as I said before, it is such a general term. You ask me what my individual opinion is, and it could differ from that of every other kid my age. I think the American Dream is always changing for everyone. And I think a lot of how it changes

depends on what society is like, and what the times bring. If money is abundant in one

decade, people dream of having extreme material possessions. Yet if money is low,

people dream of having money. The American Dream is almost what you see yourself

having, that at that time you do not have. You always want what you don’t have. That is

a true generalization that applies to every person on earth. Some can cope with the fact

that they cant have everything, some can’t and will get everything they want. To achieve

the American Dream...your “American Dream,” you have to have motivation, a reason to

achieve something. People in the past did, and have proven it so. Hopefully, we will do the same, and not sit back and watch our dreams fade away.