Ask a dozen Americans their definition of the American Dream, and you are likely to get thirteen different answers. Over time, the American Dream has evolved from a focus on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to a focus on wealth, possessions, and the pursuit of career achievements. The American Dream today represents a house in the suburbs, a secure retirement, two kids (whose college funds are well established), vacations at a Disney resort, and a newer-model hybrid SUV. It hasn’t always been this way.
In August, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. shared his American dream. He stood in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke to the crowds stretched out before him: “I have a dream,” he said, “that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
Some cynics believe the American dream is obsolete. They claim, “The American Dream has run out of gas. The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies.” I refuse to believe that.
Forty-five years after Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in Washington, D.C., Michelle Obama, the wife of the first African American to be nominated for the office of president by a major political party, told Americans, “the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
To me, the American Dream is, and has always been, a dream of freedom and opportunity. For those who are willing to hope for the future and work hard to achieve their goals, the dream is still alive. For those who refuse to stand by and see others suffering and struggling, the dream lives on. For those who love their neighbors more than themselves and are willing to pour out their lives to protect them, the American Dream will long endure.