Is The American Dream Attainable

The American Dream: Is It Still Attainable? What is the American dream? Some would say a successful career. Some would say a life of fulfillment and happiness. Some might even say equality and acceptance for all Americans. But what it is really, and how must an individual go about attaining it? I believe the American dream is defined by the personal desires of the one striving and working for it. Our rights as Americans are clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, I believe our forefathers worked hard for the ownership of these rights and today’s generation’s work ethic is on a steep decline. The American Dream is most certainly existent and attainable for those who are willing
Rockefeller. He rose to that wealth and stature after enduring an impoverished childhood that forced his jobless father to relocate his family to America amid tough times in his native Scotland. As a young man, Carnegie worked to make ends meet as a messenger boy for a telegraph company and in a factory that made sewing machine “bobbins.” It was in 1853 that Carnegie was hired by Thomas Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. as a secretary and telegraph operator, kicking off his iconic ascent to wealth. Earning just $4 a week, he worked vigorously and in turn rose, step by step, within the ranks of the company -- eventually put in a high-profile and quite lucrative post overseeing military transportation
He grew up extremely underprivileged, or so it would seem to this generation. He never owned anything that was given to him freely and I believe this fact alone shaped him into an unexplainably hard worker. He worked for everything he ever had and kept a positive attitude about it in that. To achieve the opportunities and dreams he desired he knew this, working from daylight to dawn and sacrificing things we could not imagine, was the only way he could do so. This characteristic alone is enough to leave me feeling speechless and guilty. However, this is not what amazes me about my grandfather. One day a few years ago on a scorching summer afternoon I was able to visit my “Papaw” just as he was finishing a carpentry project he had been working on for many months. Just as I sat down next to him on a bench he had crafted, my grandmother brought us out two glasses of lemonade. Admiring his work I sat silently, unable to imagine the hours he spent working on this project of his. Taking a sip of his lemonade my grandfather made a comment I will never forget. “I am living the American Dream, you know it A?” I had always had the notion that the American Dream was a white picket fence, two story home with 2.5 children and a groomed Labrador Retriever playing on the front lawn. My grandfather is not exceedingly