The American Dream

What do you think is the American Dream?  Are you living it?  Is it freedom? Success? Wealth? Happiness?  Who can reach the American Dream?  The hardworking? The educated?  New immigrants?  

Jonas, from Ethiopia, is a custodian who fastidiously attends to Room 304b.  Often, we have conversations about acquiring the English language; his family in Ethiopia; and his schooling.  Yesterday's discussion centered on children.  He is convinced that American freedom is in jeopardy since white Christian Americans tend only to have two children while minorities, such as Hispanics and Muslims tend to have more than two children.  I steered the conversation toward education.  For it must be that the freedoms and rights of our country rest in our education system rather than in the mercy of various cultures.  We are the great melting pot.  We are the most diverse country in the world.  If we begin to fear other cultures and other religions, than we are bound to be a separate nation.  A nation pleading for isolation of others such as Northern Ireland or Israel.  

My faith in our country rests in education.  The American Dream can easily be shattered if it only means monetary wealth.  Whatever trouble Tiger Woods might be in, money is not going to solve his problems.  If the American Dream is only success it can easily crumble.  Any business owner or financial planner can attest to the crashing economy making success as fragile as china plate resting cockeyed on a shelf while a bull brushes past.  The American Dream must connect the people of our land to history, to literature, to science, to understanding of others.  The constant hope is that we continue to build an understanding of what it means to be a member of humanity; an understanding that fear can lead to hatred which can lead to war which leads to death and breeds the cycle again.  Freedom must be accompanied with the education of all and the desire to eradicate fear of those who are different.

My faith also rests in God.  A God of forgiveness and grace.  A God who taught us to pray: "Thy kingdom come."  This kingdom of God can not be one of fear and hatred.  How then can we love our neighbor if we do not know our neighbor?  Education is a starting place, and living in the world and with God's people is a way to make education a journey rather than only a destination.  

Tomorrow, I'll tell Jonas a bit more about The Great Gatsby.  A man whose dream was ultimately shattered.  Maybe there is something more he and I can teach each other about this American Dream.  The dream that spans across mighty oceans and continents that allows one man from an African nation to receive an education and to be free from oppression.  In the end, I think I have found my definition of the American dream by knowing a man from Africa who works as a custodian in order to go to school in a country where he is free to dream.  I guess he is wondering who will keep this dream alive for the next generation.