American Dream @ MindSay 
Andrew, the oldest, kissed his mother and moved his few possessions to Chicago where he watched a beautiful woman and reached to steady her when she slipped, and Andrew and Zelma could not stop reaching for one another in that city of promise and noise and tall buildings so far from Zelma's home among the magnolias and genteel people and Andrew's home among the steel mills and immigrants . A son was born, a war was won, a daughter made the dream complete. A new home, new job, new car, as bad times turned into affluent times for most, although the work was hard... a labor of love.
Their children thrived and learned to reach for their own dreams in a different place, in a different time, with their children, as the memories swam together with the memories of all those before.
Well, I don't.
Unless you believe a fetus chooses its mother, a child their background/traditions/beliefs/income, that a child has a say in where it is born and what schools it will go to, and so on, then you can't believe that merely through hard work and determination, that any person can obtain prosperity. The American Dream is something that everyone wants to believe in simply because it is optimistic and hopeful, not because it is likely and the inevitable result of hard work. I feel that the key word is dream.
It is ridiculous to say that the same opportunities are provided to everyone, and without the same opportunities being given to everyone, there is not an equal chance for any random person to obtain prosperity. That is to say, that someone that starts from the very bottom is much less likely than the person who starts in the middle to make it to the top.
And you must understand, the poor have very different views about the way things work than people who are not poor. When you come from a middle class background, it might be natural for you to think that it isn't so hard to be successful. But it's very different to be from the lowest class.
Imagine, if you will, that you are approaching a cliff from a distance. At one side of the cliff is a hill with a long and winding gated road that takes you halfway to the top. At the top of the cliff is your destination, a house, that you can see. As you approach the cliff's bottom, you start to lose sight of the house. When you arrive at the bottom, all you can see is the sheer face of the cliff. From where you are standing now, you can't tell how far it is to the top. All you can see is a wall of rock that seems to reach into space. From the cliff, you see a rope that you have to assume is attached securely at the top of the cliff. As it is, it appears to be dangling from the sky.
If you were standing at the top looking down, you would think it was a long way down, and that the only way you'd go is if you fell or were pushed. But, you are at the top, after all. How hard could it be to get there? You've always been there. From the bottom, you would think that it is a long way up, and if you had the strength and resources, you might try to make it. If you were able to drive up to the middle and look down, you'd think that it was a long way down, but if you climbed long enough, you'd make it to the top.
When you are poor, you don't have the same point of view as the rich.
You are standing at the bottom of a cliff that reaches into the sky, faced with a dangling rope that you don't even know if you can trust.
Enjoying life, living your dream and helping and sharing with others is the American dream. Not many people today can say they are living the American dream when they are living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to keep up with all of the bills to take care of their family. Not many people have excess amounts of money at their disposal that they can use to impact other peoples lives by funding or donating money to projects, charities and organizations that they feel passionate about. Most Americans are living in debt, and using plastic (credit cards) just to get by, which the grave they are digging is getting larger by the day.
Orrin Woodward has created a system to teach people how to change their thinking to enable them to live the American dream. 'Stinking Thinking' as Orrin has called it, is the reason why many Americans are tormented with stress due to the debt they have accumulated which creates the financial instability that rocks their way of life. It is this ‘stinking thinking’ that has kept many Americans in bondage.
Credit Card debt is one example of how the thinking of Americans has enslaved their lives. The fact is that most Americans can’t afford to save, invest or create wealth as they are spending every penny they have to pay for the cars, homes, college education and other expenses that arise through out the month/years. At the end of the day there are no monies left over after all the bills have been paid etc. and the average American resorts to credit cards. The debt accumulated on plastic is on average $8,000 per American household and growing. This tells you that the average American wants to live a lifestyle they cannot afford. Orrin Woodward teaches people how to think differently to obtain the results they want to achieve out of life. In fact, Orrin Woodward has mentioned that Americans do not have true freedom unless they have economic freedom. If you want the results of a financial free independent business owner you must think like one. Orrin will tell you that everyone in America is the same from the neck down; it is the information in their head that separates those who have financial freedom and those who do not.
Not only are many Americans creating vast amounts of debt, but many Americans jobs are at stake due to outsourcing, downsizing and many other factors that we could write a book about. Most Americans are taught, programmed and trained at an early age that the secret to success is to get a safe and secure job and that will grant them the American dream. I have many friends and relatives who were brought up to believe just that, and they will tell you now that no job is secure as many industries are laying people off and outsourcing jobs overseas to keep costs low so the company can stay alive. They have experienced this first hand in their lives. Currently, in China there are over 250 million people learning how to speak English. People all over the world are learning English and jobs in America are being outsourced to these individuals by the thousand and this will rapidly increase as the year’s progress. You may have already witnessed this when you have called a customer support center to obtain assistance with an issue you may have faced with a new personal computer. Many times you are routed to a customer service representative that is setup and operating shop in India, Panama or Thailand. The wave of jobs that have left America is gaining velocity and the swell is going to break overseas. This is why Americans need to dig their well before they become thirsty.
Americans need to acknowledge the fact that there is no such thing as job security and they need to take action now. The system that Orrin Woodward has designed will allow any individual anywhere in America, who is willing to dedicate themselves to their dream and a worthy cause, a chance to succeed and live the American dream. By submitting yourself to the Teams system you will learn to think like an Orrin Woodward which will yield the results of an Orrin Woodward. This will give you security as you will not have to depend on the plastic of a credit card nor a paycheck from an employer.
"The First Post" has published some glowing statistics that American MSM should be shouting glowingly from the roof tops, hi-ways and bi-ways. Oh yeah, that would mean validating the George Bush Presidential Administration and encourage voters to vote Republican in 2006 and 2008.
Welfare cases have fallen by an astounding 60 per cent in the last decade. Marriage is growing in popularity, while divorce rates, having soared in the Sixties and Seventies, are falling - as are the rates of teenage pregnancy, drug use and suicide. Alcohol consumption among the young has fallen by 31 per cent since the mid-Eighties, and smoking by almost 50 per cent.
Young Americans are discovering sex later than their parents, and have fewer partners. A new, virtuous, generation is emerging.
Educational achievement, particularly among minorities, is rising, and the philanthropic instincts of the rich - as witnessed by last week's $31 billion gift to charity by legendary investor Warren Buffet - are resolute.
Crime rates, not only in New York but across the country, continue to decline rapidly. According to the Department of Justice, violent offences overall have dropped by 55 per cent since 1993, while teenage offending is down by 71 per cent.
Property crimes are at their lowest level since Federal statistics began in the early Seventies. Beyond the lawless pockets of a few big cities, America is now one of the least crime-troubled societies on earth.
How has all this happened? And why, amid the relentless onslaught of America-bashing, do we hear so little about it?
God forbid that the MSM would give thumb up that Main Stream America has a different view of America than the Democratic Party and the MSM.
The thing that is amazing these statistics are coming from a British media outlet. Imagine a European publishing company printing (online) statistics that make President George W. Bush look good.
The only thing that would complete the American Dream now is the utter humiliation of a valueless left and absolute victory over Islamofascist terrorists.
Things are happening so fast! Saturday I received the satellite phone (courtesy of Telestial). Sunday I bought hiking boots and Teva’s style sandals (would you believe that we traveled through 9 stores to find them – I would have given up but my mom was determined not to let her little girl travel to Central America without waterproof sandals that would stay on her feet.
Monday morning I received my GSM World Phone 2 hours before Dad drove me to Dulles Airport. Since it was a balmy 60 degree day (so strange for January), we traveled with the windows down. The entire car trip I had a death grip on my plane tickets as I suffered from daymares about them blowing out the window. (So glad that they didn’t!)
Once at Dulles, Dad and I walked hand in hand to the baggage check. Dad helped me rearrange what I had packed so that neither bag would cost $25 for going over the 50 pound limit. In total I’ve dragged along 94 pounds of luggage (and that’s not including my carry on). The guy at the X-ray machine teased, “Geeze, girl! Is there anything you didn’t bring?”
To which I proudly informed him, “The kitchen sink.”
I enjoy chatting with my fellow passengers – especially those over sixty. The senior citizens are more fun to talk to because they seem to actually care about what you say instead of solely the stress of their next meeting or to do list.
When I reached my departure gate everyone seemed to be engrossed in some form of literature so I sat alone. At this point I felt tears start to well up when I realized that I didn’t give Dad a goodbye hug. Rather than get emotional I opted for something technical like figuring out how to operate my little electronic Spanish-English Dictionary. To my surprise I found a sealed, bumpy envelope with my name written on it. Impulsively, I seized it and opened it. There was a Hershey chocolate miniature, a peppermint, a photo of my family in front of a waterfall at Shenedoah, and a hand written note. Great! Non-emotional. I cannot read the letter. I fight back a few silent tears as I come to terms with the fact that this is real; I’m actually going to a foreign country, by myself, where I don’t know anybody, and I haven’t spoken the language in a month and a half. Morbid thoughts cross my mind. What if I get hit by a car while crossing the street and I end up a vegetable? My hazel eyes must have definitely changed to green as the third tear leaked out. A well built African American man in an army uniform looks at me with concern but is too shy to say anything. How embarrassing! I chuckle to myself as I pull out the electronic dictionary and start to figure it out. That makes me feel better.
Time for take off. I’m happy to have a window seat and a row to myself. I glance at the other passengers; they appear bored and disinterested in the fact that we are about to fly down the East coast of the U.S. from D.C. to Atlanta. Me on the other hand, I’m bursting full with excitement. I feel like a happy-go-lucky golden retriever. I love the sound of the propellers spinning, the way the plane shakes and rattles, and I especially love watching the ground zip by below. It’s fascinating to see the change in scale from life size, to doll house, to a toy railroad set, to an image from google earth. The trees look like broccoli; I wonder if their similar appearance feeds my love of both. As the plane rises away from the airport the extent of suburban sprawl is stunning. What a waste of land! How could little tiny mammalian bipeds have such a huge effect on the surface of the earth? All those little driveways and sidewalks and streets and neatly trimmed lawns. It brings major question to the American dream. Our population has grown too large for every family to have a big house, spacious yard, white picket fence, dog, and 3.1 kids. Inspired by Dr. Claire Welty, the director the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE), I want to live in either downtown Annapolis or Baltimore City in a little historic row-home so that I may minimize my “footprint” on our Earth. It would be ideal if I could walk to work.
Suburban sprawl has many negative consequences. Not only does it fragment habitat and lead to greater cumulative impervious cover, but it also leads to a decreased quality of life. People have a greater tendency to become overweight because it is necessary to use a car to travel anywhere. Typically, a place of work is far from home so a lot of time is spent sitting in traffic burning fossil fuels. Thus there is a greater cumulative amount of air pollution which is bad for people who have asthma and lung cancer. I could continue for another two pages but I don’t think that would be appropriate for a blog on studying abroad. I’ve left on a jet plane.
