Defining America

When the class began talking about what our own ideas of the "American Dream" were, the first thing that popped into my head was the tv show, American Dreams. This show set the stage for me at an early age of what an American dream is. Through watching the show, I began to think the perfect American lifestyle would be achieved by having a happy family, living in a good neighborhood, and having a loving marriage. Since then, my view has very much changed. While those things are nice, they no longer seem as important. I have come to believe that the American Dream is more about the freedom to make decisions that will ultimately make yourself happy. So to one person that may be earning millions of dollars, whearas to someone else their dream may be to own a boat. The basic idea is that people can choose what they want to do, and hopefully aquire the skills to do so. While I was trying to think of my interpretation, another thought popped into my head. What defines an American?

This weekend I was away in California, and the people I saw were very different than those in Chicago. Or not the people, but more the way they intermixed. Chicago is known to be one of the most segregated cities in the U.S and San Fransico is not at all that way. I spent a day in a high school and realized how completely homogenous New Trier really is. Walk through the halls of New Trier and almost every single student is white. Their are some Asians and African Americans, but those are definetely the minority. Then walk through the school in San Fransico, and you will see students of every race and ethnicity, and they are not the minority, because the whole school is so mixed. Looking at all the different people, I came to the realization that every person will define an American based on their surroundings, upringing, and many other factors, and that there is no single answer for what an American truly is.

So can there be a definition of an American, or even an American Dream? Of course, but there is no correct answer. Every single person will interpret them differently because of the experiences in their lives.There is no common factor in every persons interpretation, but there is one in their process of finding the answer. Every single American is lucky enough to have the freedom to determine their own answer, and are not limited or forced to believe in certain things.