Blog Post #13

1. How would you describe the “American Dream?”

2. What is your definition of wealth?

3. What are Americans’ attitudes toward wealth and poverty?

4. What is your attitude toward wealth and poverty?

The “American Dream” is a collection of shared goals that a majority of American society agrees one should direct their focus towards. In many circumstances, Americans could concur that the American dream includes getting married, raising a family, owning a house, and attempting to become wealthy in a monetary sense. I believe that the “American Dream” is to become the stereotypical American; someone that the average person within the United States strives to be, as they have everything made and life is easy and perfect for them.

There are several ways in which I could define wealth, all different based upon the context that the term is applied to. For instance, if wealth were to be applied to a monetary situation, I would say that it means accumulating an amount of money that is significantly more than the average person within a society retains. I say more than the average person because wealth can be a relative thing; what seems like a lot of money to one person or group of people could be an unsubstantial amount to another. If I were to apply the term wealth to the quality of one’s life, the definition I would be left with would be much different. In this context, I would say that wealth deals more with the quality of relationships an individual has in their life, the impact that they have had on their society and the world, and the value of the morals that they have. One could be wealth in a monetary sense, but not wealth in the quality of their life.

I believe that Americans, as a whole, are mostly superficial in their attitudes towards wealth and poverty. The majority of society values the quality of their life and the level of their happiness based upon the amount of money that one makes. This means that they could look down upon someone who makes less money than them, or feel jealousy or hate to those who make more than them. In regard to poverty, it is my opinion that most Americans do not see those who live in poverty as equal to themselves. Many are condescending to people who live in poverty, and make judgments on their value based upon the amount of money that others make.

In my lifetime, I wish to be a person that is wealthy in both the ways that I have defined; my hope is that I am wealthy monetarily and in the quality of my life. I have worked hard to do well in school so that I can go to a good college and receive an education that can propel me into a favorable career. I do this so I can be successful and accumulate much money later on in my life. While I believe money can help one to be happy, I do not think that it alone can provide all the satisfaction necessary to have a quality life. Therefore, I also know that I need to have quality, lasting relationships in my life. My attitude to poverty is that it is a situation that can lead to much pain and uncomfortable circumstances for many. The rate of violence, imprisonment, and drug and alcohol addiction for those in poverty is much higher than those who have money. I believe that poverty is a cycle that is difficult to break; once a family falls into poverty, it is likely that generation after generation will remain there. Due to this belief, I think that it is necessary for others to help those trapped in poverty. This could be by donating money, doing charity work, or for our government to provide social programs or increase spending on education to help lift Americans out of poverty. It is extremely difficult for the poorest Americans to escape their circumstances and achieve the American dream, and I think that we should all try and do more to assist our fellow citizens.