the American Dream is “a never-ending pursuit [and] I can always do more to achieve it
I feel like in America the more time goes on sometimes the more it demands out of people. Living wages continue to increase more and more which push people to work even harder to the point of exhaustion. People have to work so hard sometimes but still have the feeling that they need to achieve more.
he Dream itself has been broadened to include a greater sense of personal well-being and quality-of-life issues (such as having access to quality health care, working toward world peace, and reducing the harmful eff ects of global warming)
These have really big inspirations for others as time continues to go on, a lot of people are starting to care more about the well-being of themselves and for the people around them. It really makes you realize just how different others goals and dreams are from yourself.
I could have been a lot better off but through my own foolish-ness, I’m not. What causes poverty? Foolishness. When I came out of the service, my wife had saved a few dollars and I had a few bucks. I wanted to have a good time, I’m throwing money away like water. Believe me, had I used my head right, I could have had a house. I don’t feel sorry for myself, what happened, happened, you know. Of course you pay for it.
I feel like these kind of mistakes tend to happen a lot when people are starting to save up money or when they suddenly have a large sum of it. In the moment you feel on top of the world and people end up blowing it all in the moment because of all that rush and excitement. But when people look back on it they sometimes really regret their decisions. I know I've made purchases I regret as well but it's good to learn from it and make better ones.
At its core, this notion that anyone can be president, or anyone can be a billionaire, is absurd. A lot of Americans work hard, but they don’t become president and they don’t become billionaires.
In a way this makes me feel like yes people can achieve their dreams but also it's good to be realistic with yourself but also with others as well. Yes, there is many people who work so much everyday but sometimes the outcome is different for everyone and I think that's also something people should realize as well.
At its core, the American Dream represents a state of mind—that is, an enduring optimism given to a people who might be tempted to suc-cumb to the travails of adversity, but who, instead, repeatedly rise from the ashes to continue to build a great nation
When it mentions that the American Dream is a state of mind, it makes me think about how its not that the American Dream is something that is a set in stone idea but something the people makes it out to be. We have to make the American Dream what we want it to be.
It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regard-less of the fortuitous circumstances of their birth. . . . It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefi t of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class. And that dream has been realized more fully in actual life here than anywhere else, though very imperfectly even among ourselves. (
This whole section really explains perfectly how I feel like everyone wants the American Dream to be like. At this current time in the world there is a lot put to test when it comes to rights and equality. This is something I feel like everyone pushes for, for every single person no matter what or who they are to be recognized, heard, and treated fairly.
“It was possible in this wonderful city for that nameless little boy—for any of its millions—to have a decent chance to scale the walls and achieve what they wished. Wealth, rank, or an imposing name counted for nothing. Th e only credential the city asked was the boldness to dream. For those who did, it unlocked its gates and its treasures, not caring who they were or where they came from”
This little section really made me feel like America can really help someone who could be seen as nameless to be able to dream and achieve that dream. That America in a sense doesn't care about the person who you are which allows people the choice of choosing what to make of yourself.
For much of our history, African Americans and women were excluded from its promise.
This line holds a lot of power in my opinion because of the way women and especially African Americans have been treated. The way they have been treated unjustly because of simply who they are is something that needs to be changed for the better.