THE DEEPEST POST YET
The "American Dream" in my mind often involves fatty foods, a job in Hollywood, and a small waist. This is not what I strive to be, but it is the stereotypical ideal that some people base their lives on. I will say though, that in the past I have strived to be the skinny Victoria Secret model only because other girls were obsessed (big mistake). I think this is both unrealistic and demonetizes the meaning of our lives. If all of us had that "American Dream" come true, then no one would be living in it...
"And when everyones super... no one will be" -The Incredibles
... The dream that I have as an American is to live my life woven in the hands of God. I want to go through conflict, I do NOT want to be perfect. If one does not earn struggles in their lives, how can one enjoy the simplistic joys of living. Of course we shall strive to be perfect, but humans have sin so it is inevitable, which means we need to be equip for those times in our lives. My American Dream is that everyone learns to stop worrying about their outer view. Earth is temporary in my eyes and it is too small of a part of our path in the Journey of life to OVER care and obsess over other people's opinions. Gatsby did this, and he ultimately let himself down. He thought he was doing what was right, but he was only doing what was popular.
Wealth obviously commonly means large amounts of money, but the second thing I immediately thought of was wealth of knowledge. The wealth of learning how to live as closely to Jesus as possible. Wealth is not a materialistic object. Wealth is a characteristic, a belief, a large amount of something useful to you. Wealth can even be wealth of happiness, but wealth can also have a negative connotation. Gatsby had a wealth of unhappiness that he couldn't discover deeply because he was masking his under-the-surface self. IF you want wealth (which isn't always the case because we are our own enemy of this), you must seek why you look for this wealth and analyze that before anything else.
The American attitude toward wealth and poverty are very divided. The first image I pictured was a homeless man (man because of stupid stereotypes) on the side of the road holding a sign to a rich man (stereotypes again... being honest) in a convertible. I could picture Gatsby being that man. I feel it is interesting to look at these two social classes because it is often the people who aren't wealthy who contribute to the poor. The wealthy seem to love to brag about their gains, but grown silent in the opportunity to share those gains. The American attitude is to help the poor... but maybe we should be helping the wealthy learn their values SO THAT THEY can help the poor. #deepright?
My attitude towards those stereotypes are expressed above, but just to give you another perspective, it is not always those people's fault. It is not the rich man's fault if he were born into a family who inherited 4 million dollars from their grandmother. It is not the poor man's fault for growing up in a broken home who did not have the time to go to college and earn a degree so that they could earn a stable job. (These are all made up stories of course). In my day to day life, this is a problem. Teens are made fun of their class, when the only control we have is how we react to our circumstances. If you're rich, be humble and own it. If you're poor, be wealthy in your want to gain humility and own it! There is a difference between copying what you know and owning up to what you know is right.
I could go on forever about these topics because I love this (@ Genesky please do more of these please please)!!!!! If you agree say this into your blog. We can start a movement! Brick walls, we run through them.
And since this Blog is mine, I will end by saying this. Do you define your wealth by your family, others, your GPA, the number in your bank, the amount of schools you got into, your emotional health, or your relationship with God? And once you answer that, is this the best way for you to handle your feelings, beliefs, and life moving forward? If the answer is yes, you need to think again.
That is all I will say for now.
Thank you for reading this :)
Sincerely,
K-Dog
"And when everyones super... no one will be" -The Incredibles
... The dream that I have as an American is to live my life woven in the hands of God. I want to go through conflict, I do NOT want to be perfect. If one does not earn struggles in their lives, how can one enjoy the simplistic joys of living. Of course we shall strive to be perfect, but humans have sin so it is inevitable, which means we need to be equip for those times in our lives. My American Dream is that everyone learns to stop worrying about their outer view. Earth is temporary in my eyes and it is too small of a part of our path in the Journey of life to OVER care and obsess over other people's opinions. Gatsby did this, and he ultimately let himself down. He thought he was doing what was right, but he was only doing what was popular.
Wealth obviously commonly means large amounts of money, but the second thing I immediately thought of was wealth of knowledge. The wealth of learning how to live as closely to Jesus as possible. Wealth is not a materialistic object. Wealth is a characteristic, a belief, a large amount of something useful to you. Wealth can even be wealth of happiness, but wealth can also have a negative connotation. Gatsby had a wealth of unhappiness that he couldn't discover deeply because he was masking his under-the-surface self. IF you want wealth (which isn't always the case because we are our own enemy of this), you must seek why you look for this wealth and analyze that before anything else.
The American attitude toward wealth and poverty are very divided. The first image I pictured was a homeless man (man because of stupid stereotypes) on the side of the road holding a sign to a rich man (stereotypes again... being honest) in a convertible. I could picture Gatsby being that man. I feel it is interesting to look at these two social classes because it is often the people who aren't wealthy who contribute to the poor. The wealthy seem to love to brag about their gains, but grown silent in the opportunity to share those gains. The American attitude is to help the poor... but maybe we should be helping the wealthy learn their values SO THAT THEY can help the poor. #deepright?
My attitude towards those stereotypes are expressed above, but just to give you another perspective, it is not always those people's fault. It is not the rich man's fault if he were born into a family who inherited 4 million dollars from their grandmother. It is not the poor man's fault for growing up in a broken home who did not have the time to go to college and earn a degree so that they could earn a stable job. (These are all made up stories of course). In my day to day life, this is a problem. Teens are made fun of their class, when the only control we have is how we react to our circumstances. If you're rich, be humble and own it. If you're poor, be wealthy in your want to gain humility and own it! There is a difference between copying what you know and owning up to what you know is right.
I could go on forever about these topics because I love this (@ Genesky please do more of these please please)!!!!! If you agree say this into your blog. We can start a movement! Brick walls, we run through them.
And since this Blog is mine, I will end by saying this. Do you define your wealth by your family, others, your GPA, the number in your bank, the amount of schools you got into, your emotional health, or your relationship with God? And once you answer that, is this the best way for you to handle your feelings, beliefs, and life moving forward? If the answer is yes, you need to think again.
That is all I will say for now.
Thank you for reading this :)
Sincerely,
K-Dog
Wooooow, I have never thought of the American Dream to be fatty foods and skinny waists but when I come to think about it thats what many Americans do dream about. Usually since dreams are not achieveable, I believe your American Dream is achievable and reasonable rather than the unrealistic standards. Everyone is truly their own enemy beacause we want more but when we all already have wealth whether rich or poor. We need to embrace who we truly are and simply humble ourselves because you never know the situation of a person. I love this so much :)))))
ReplyDeleteFatty foods and skinny waists...they kind of contradict each other ;)
ReplyDeleteI love how you talk about the American Dream as embracing the imperfections and focusing on the joys in life. I read another blog post that was more focused about the socioeconomic divide and the impact of wealth on people's lives and opportunities. While that is one important aspect of community, I think your post covers the other part - the emotional part that we sometimes forget in our quest for money. I see this as wealth for the soul. Doing what you think is right and owning up for your actions. It is not wrong to be motivated by money as in our world, money is necessary to an extent to be able to live a comfortable, healthy life. However, like you said, it is also important to be humble and to share what you have so that you are not dragged down by surface-level stuff. Overall, I really enjoyed reading your blog post!