People all over the world are risking their lives, sacrificing their lifetime savings, and going severely in debt to get half a shot at achieving the American Dream.
Of course, you’re already there, and, for the most part, you’re already living the American Dream, so there’s no sense of urgency on your part to incur risks or sacrifices or indebtedness to achieve something that’s already simply “there” for the taking.
There are at least three problems with this perspective:
- The risks and sacrifices and indebtedness required for you to realize the American Dream have been and are continuing to be made by others on your behalf;
- Those investments are time-limited and will run out well before your American Dream is fully realized in a sustainable
- Those who are taking on the personal risks, sacrifices and indebtedness from scratch are going to end up being your bosses who will own the businesses at which you will work for substantially less than “American Dream” pay, they will own your apartments, they will own your restaurants, hotels and motels, they will serve in your government, they will provide your medical care, legal services, etc.
With that background, let’s do a didactic exercise concerning your American Dream, ask yourself:
- What do you WANT?
- What do you NEED?
- What do you EXPECT?
- What do you DESERVE?
QUALIFICATION 1: How “legitimate” are those endpoints? And according to whom?
QUALIFICATION 2: Since life, mercifully, withholds its greatest mysteries and largest demands, partitioning them out over the entirety of life’s journey, we don’t really know or appreciate how large or expansive our wants and needs are going to be. We are protected from vicissitudes and are heavily subsidized against privation during our early development years and have no idea how difficult things can get.
Fortunately, life does not throw everything at us at once but allows us some latitude to prepare and fortify ourselves against the eventualities that almost certainly will follow.
Now, how are you going to acquire YOUR American Dream? How much are YOU going to invest, personally, in attaining any or all of the above? Let’s assume that YOU, Inc., are the entity with the greatest vested interest in acquiring what you WANT, NEED, EXPECT, and DESERVE.
In fact, nobody ELSE in the universe is as interested in YOUR welfare as YOU should be. Most other folks in the universe are MORE interested in what you can do to fulfill THEIR wants, needs and expectations. Society at large, including parents, teachers, city, county, state and federal government, school systems and businesses from whom you may presume to acquire a job, WANT, NEED, EXPECT and DESERVE a healthy return on their $300,000 investment.
Again, how much are YOU going to invest in attaining any or all of the above?
Is EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT too much to ask or expect in order to attain EVERYTHING YOU DESERVE?
