The American Dream

The American Dream is alive and well. Oh, I know, the gap between the rich and poor is widening, and the famed American Middle Class is shrinking, or fading (some say collapsing) into the Poor Class. So what? I have never felt the future brighter, opportunities more abundant, or the American Dream closer to reality than it is right now.

I?ll admit, I tend to gauge the rest of society on how I personally feel at the moment, but that?s nothing unusual. Most everyone does. Look around. I can?t remember ever seeing more jobs available in the newspaper. The farm economy is booming. I just heard that SE Iowa is actually suffering from a labor shortage.

Here in the Midwest, we may be sheltered from the storm. But if I were in Detroit, and struggling to support a family, and there were no jobs, I think I?d be relocating to South Dakota where unemployment is 2 percent, and burger flippers are making 14 bucks an hour. We are a mobile society. We still have the good ole ability to pick ourselves up by the proverbial bootstraps (Nikes) and improve ourselves.

That is the American Dream: if we work hard, keep our noses clean, save some money, we have the ability to rise above the muck, and improve life for ourselves and for our children. That precept has never been stronger than it is today.

Get to work! Flip burgers if you have to. The best job reference is that you?re currently employed. I?ve worked in my share of minimum-wage sweatshops, and sold insurance door-to-door (after a college education). I?ve never been without a job, or without hope. That?s the essence of the American Dream: tomorrow will be brighter.

My mother instilled in me The Fact that in America, you can be anything you want to be, if you?re willing to work for it. I believed her then, and still do today. Look at our president?what better example is there? My father taught me how to work?up early, long hours, home late: strong work ethic.

That?s the difference between then and now?I had two parents at home. In fact, I didn?t even know anyone who didn?t have two parents at home. There was no welfare, or very little in the ?50s and ?60s. You went to work or you didn?t eat.

If anything has weakened the American Dream it?s welfare: the idea that the government will take care of you. How demotivational! Why work, or try to improve yourself if you?re going to be taken care of? And let?s teach our children how to live off the welfare system.

It is not the government?s responsibility to provide jobs. The jobs are there. It is our responsibility to reach out for them! If America still weren?t the land of opportunity, why are so many foreigners clamoring to get in?

If there?s one thing the United States has that most third world countries don?t, it?s low-interest credit. In Jamaica, the typical rate for a home loan is 18 percent. Consequentially, a lot of Jamaicans live in shipping crates. If they build a home, they build it piece by piece, often taking generations to complete.

The United States also has a tremendous educational system. Don?t whine about the cost. I?ll have you know that, while I was in college (Iowa State University, circa early ?70s), tuition increased 60 percent in one year! Yep. Try fitting that into your education budget. But I made it. I worked at gas stations, had college loans (which I paid back), and the GI Bill.

Home ownership and education are all part of the American Dream. Make a little progress every day. One step at a time. Before you know it, your lifestyle has improved, for yourself, and family. ?American still ends in ?I can.?

Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526, email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com, or visit his website at www.empty-nest-words-photos-and-frames.com