Achieved yet Unachievable

ENGL100-92533 Freshman Composition

January 6, 2019

Achieved yet Unachievable

“The 400 richest individuals in our country hold more wealth than the poorest 150 million Americans combined” (Reifenberg). Sometimes things make no sense. Sometimes things obfuscate perception. Sometimes things exist only to take advantage of the more unfortunate in society. Humankind is flawed. By themselves, people know their own destructive nature. Something must be done. Therefore, we take action. In our country, the community lives, eats, works all for the general welfare of America. Continuously, we, the people of the United States, strive for a perfect world, a transcended culture, a renewed realm, but we will never achieve it. Barack Obama delivered a speech titled “The Defining Challenge of Our Time.” In a letter to the editor of The Observer, Natasha Reifenberg and Patrick LeBlanc claim, “Yes, income inequality really is that bad.” Robert J. Shiller describes “The Transformation of the ‘American Dream’” in The New York Times. Although vague in meaning, the American dream is twofold: unachievable because imperfect humankind runs the government achieved already through the government ensuring the life and rights of citizens, and also achieved through the constitution our forefathers dictated word for word.

The American dream idea could refer to a fictional United States where every man and every woman live perfectly. Does that sound vague? Unfortunately, the reason that the definition sounds vague is because the American dream means different things to different people. Arguably, one of the most defining traits of the phrase is that people cannot define it truly. In the New York Times, Robert J. Shiller explains that the phrase “has changed radically through the years.” Even only through the country, the phrase holds enormous, differentiating value. To one person, it means liberty, and to another, justice. In 1931, James Truslow Adam attempted to define the term as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement” (Obama). Many today could misinterpret even this definition of the phrase. Surprisingly, the phrase even sounds something like the Socialist Karl Marx could have proclaimed in his Communist Manifesto: a disgusting parallel. “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” speaks to audiences by instilling a greater wish for the fairness of life. While patriot-sounding, this socialist idea would ensure equality of misery. Disappointingly, we will never understand the concept of the American dream, but as citizens of the America, it means nothing. The definition of the American Dream is difficult, tricky, and also impossible.

Additionally, “the American dream” can be viewed for what it really is: a tool used by the media, governments, and politicians to trigger in each person a sort of pathos. Although seeming tangible, those three little words, that utopian concept, exist today specifically to make us crave and consume. Barack Obama mentioned it, “making sure our economy works for every working American.” Used by both recent presidents, the phrase intrigues people, causing a yearning for a better life. Again according to Robert J. Shiller, “as the term became more commonplace . . . home builders used it . . . in advertisements, perhaps to make conspicuous consumption seem patriotic.” Consumerism in America has grown and thrived. Greed always motivates. Incentive always drives. Money-changers will continue to use whatever they can hold onto, even when that means ruining a fine idea, taking what provides humanity with hope in change in exchange for a little extra change.

In an alternate light, our American dream is precisely just that: American. Unsurprisingly, our core values, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, weave through and throughout the United States of America; today, exactly as they should, our value of human rights protect the innocent and craft a quality of life for all. Part of what we think of our American dream has already been achieved. Peter Marshall, a previous chaplain of the United States Senate, clearly articulated “the twin pillars of the American dream” as “religious liberty to worship God according to the dictates of one’s own conscience and equal opportunity for all men.” In schools no matter the state, students represent every race, language, and religion. Strikingly, the “melting pot” of America, as we sometimes call it, cooks thoroughly. In America, our rights are upheld. Our courts give to each their due. The Latin, Greek, and other writings of Plato, Tacitus, Aristotle, and Socrates testify to our method and measure. Greek philosophers could only nitpick at the pristine state of our states today. If they would be proud of our nation, we should too.

Although true, just, and righteous, our American dream is also precisely just that: a dream. Sadly, we will never achieve the perfect world that our country was meant to be. Flaws will perplex us in new ways in the futuristic realm. No matter what, we will strive for that utopian universe, yet never will we catch the uncatchable goal. In our country, the community works, eats, and lives all for their own satisfaction, a better life. They thrive from driving forward. America grows and prospers although capitalism causes an unequal sharing of blessings. Although torn by human nature, people captivate the market, manage the agriculture, and innovate through the unpaved roads of technology; all these they do despite their own destructive nature. With our knowledge we conquer challenges, and overcome obstacles. Even when some things do not make sense, we persist and stride on.

Total Words: 909

Works Cited

Obama, Barack. “The Defining Challenge of Our Time.” America Now: Short Readings from

Recent Periodicals. edited by Robert Atwan, 12th ed., 2017, Bedford/St. Martin’s, pp. 308-310.

Reifenberg, Natasha. Patrick LeBlanc. “Yes, income inequality really is that bad.” The Observer. 

Feb. 1, 2016. <https://ndsmcobserver.com/2016/02/94141>

Shiller, Robert J. “The Transformation of the ‘American Dream.’” The New York Times. Aug. 4,

2017.