On a recent installment of the Jerry Doyle radio show (Doyle played head of security Mr. Michael Garibaldi on the wildly successful “Babylon 5” TV show – who knew he was a radio talk show pundit too?!) he discussed the loss of the American dream. Not a new topic. It’s often discussed in the context of is it still attainable, realistic, etc. You can find many websites and blogs that discuss it. But in this article MasterPo wants to go beyond the usual discussion to a very fundamental problem. And that is, the basic loss of people even dreaming the American dream!
In other words, the American dream cannot be reached when people aren’t even dreaming about the dream anymore!
For several years now MasterPo has been part of a small local group comprised largely of 20-somethings, a few 30-somethings, and even a few late-teen-somethings.
Inevitably the issues of being young and starting out come to a head with drama in the group often dealing with work and earning money. This is where MasterPo is seeing the loss of dreaming the dream.
Universally, not a single one of the teens and 20-30-somethings shows any interest in the American dream! They show no interest in working hard to build a career and professional reputation, establishing a nest egg, putting down roots by buying a home (be it a private house or a condo etc), and just being part of the American community. All they do care about is Xbox, cars, and beer.
Worse, when MasterPo prods them about their hopes and dreams and ambitions for themselves in the future they are as empty as the beer cans after a Friday night! MasterPo doesn’t expect deep philosophical plans about their goals in business or research or even the arts (would be nice though). But these kids aren’t even expressing the generic “Someday when I’m a big business person” or “When I get older and become a successful
Now some readers are going to say that’s “normal” for youngsters.
Really?
If a 20-something can get out of their own responsibilities to themselves (much less to the American social community as an American) because they are a 20-something, at what age does reality kick in? Do you really expect when that 20-something turns 30 they get a birthday card with a reality check in it and say to themselves “I’m 30 now. I better get my tail in gear!”
Doesn’t happen.
Have we as Americans lost the sense of the American dream in less than a generation?!
How can we have a functional, much less successful and growing, America when the youth of today isn’t even dreaming about the dream in between rounds of whatever the latest Xbox game is?
If there is a loss of the American dream it isn’t because the dream is harder to achieve (which it is), but rather because more and more people especially among the youth just aren’t dreaming of the dream!
Dare to dream.
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1 comment:
MasterPo is much too young to be remembering the 'good old days!'
I read your post and found myself smiling, because I heard a version of it back when I graduated high school in 1967. Personally, I headed off to college, but many of my friends went to San Francisco instead. Our elders lamented that we were a bunch of lazy potheads who only stirred when out protesting Vietnam. Dang! Our elders sounded a lot like YOU! And they could not have been more wrong. Hang in there, Po--this, too, shall pass.
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