February 5 Class

"If you smile at me, I will understand because that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language." - CSN

Happy Super / Fat Tuesday Everybody!

Today in class, we continued our discussion of the "American Dream."
- Grace and Amy brought up relevant examples of successful millionaires who had worked their way up from rags to riches. One such example is Chris Gardner, who's life is portrayed in the movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness". (Another movie Laz suggested watching for an example of the American Dream was "The House of Sand and Fog")
- The American Dream was only loosely defined as possessing wealth / being successful. To achieve the American Dream, one must believe in the American Dream. As Donna mentioned, one can't exactly be an "aspiring fascist" and hope to make it. America doesn't have a national religion or language that all must observe, but Americans do expect everyone else to embrace capitalist ideals on which the economy is founded.
- This "AD" and the idea of achieving success is drilled into children's heads from the time that they are able to talk. Adults love to ask, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" as if a five-year-old knows the answer.
- Arka suggested that the "AD" wasn't uniquely American, but simply packaged as American; hundreds of years of European history was compacted into a few documents which became the foundation of the nation.
- Americans still have the mentality that hard work determines success. While there may be exceptions dependent upon circumstances (luck, connections), in the majority of cases hard work has generated profitability. There is no denying that laziness is not tolerated and productivity is highly valued. Americans look upon those on welfare with disdain. Some are of the mindset that poor work ethic is why certain nations of Africa are as impoverished as they are, and that they shouldn't wait for handouts but rather work harder.
- The "opportunities" are available, it's just up to the individual to seek them out
- There is a comforting sense of purpose in doing work, as if one's life has more meaning because they have a job and fill a position where someone needs them. The "AD" may even be the physical work itself, and not the riches. Money doesn't always buy happiness.
- We ended our class discussion with the question of the rich's obligation to the poor. The rich class is resented by the poor class for their excessive wealth, and the poor class is resented by the rich class for perceived "laziness". Though resentment doesn't improve matters, it can't be eradicated. This issue even reaches a local level. Moorestown is obviously a wealthy town and most residents have high-paying jobs. But because parents work so hard and earn such high paychecks, the children begin to feel a sense of entitlement, as if somehow they have a right to spend their parents' money freely, being members of the family unit. Perhaps its just the mindset of the next generation, or the way parents treat their children, or both, but youngsters today have begun to exude a sense of arrogance; that they are better than neighboring towns because they in fact can spend more money than the others can earn.

~Ashley