Jun 2014
Horatio Alger is whispering his stories in my sleeping ear
painting me as a lowly street urchin
who conquers adversities and moral wildernesses
with only my wit, determination, and guts
and he is painting me as a phoenix of the new world
rising from ashes of banality and
the naturalized familial trappings of my past
a dirt road in the socioeconomic desert
carved out with care by the hands of forefathers I will never know
but Mr. Alger died a long while ago
and the sun inevitably rises
shattering the stained glass story of my rags turned riches
now the big men upstairs
jot me down as numbers on a chart
of consumption trends of millennials
Go to college
they say
make something of yourself
they say
you are all too entitled
they say
What went wrong
they say without a hint of contradiction
I am not equipped to say if the story of humanity
is a cycle or a downwards spiral
I am not equipped to say
that it is the job of every generation
to ensure that they clear the debris
from the path of their progeny
but I say it anyway
everybody want’s a trophy
because we were raised to believe that
everybody deserves a trophy
In the same breath they expect us
to take the puritanical mantle of the breadwinner
the frayed saddle of the noble western outlaw
the lethally honed sword of the entrepreneur
the martyr making cross of the socially conscious family man
and then wonder why we so willingly
give ourselves over to the currents
of apathy and passivity and masochistic narcissism
giving us guns and bullets with no idea how to shoot them
so instead we turn them into sculptures of modern art
and scream to the empty heavens
for just a hint of recognition
I can’t decide if history will forget us
or memorize the lyrics of our collective heart beats
but I have decided
to wake up from my American Dream
have decided
to forge my own reality
painting me as a lowly street urchin
who conquers adversities and moral wildernesses
with only my wit, determination, and guts
and he is painting me as a phoenix of the new world
rising from ashes of banality and
the naturalized familial trappings of my past
a dirt road in the socioeconomic desert
carved out with care by the hands of forefathers I will never know
but Mr. Alger died a long while ago
and the sun inevitably rises
shattering the stained glass story of my rags turned riches
now the big men upstairs
jot me down as numbers on a chart
of consumption trends of millennials
Go to college
they say
make something of yourself
they say
you are all too entitled
they say
What went wrong
they say without a hint of contradiction
I am not equipped to say if the story of humanity
is a cycle or a downwards spiral
I am not equipped to say
that it is the job of every generation
to ensure that they clear the debris
from the path of their progeny
but I say it anyway
everybody want’s a trophy
because we were raised to believe that
everybody deserves a trophy
In the same breath they expect us
to take the puritanical mantle of the breadwinner
the frayed saddle of the noble western outlaw
the lethally honed sword of the entrepreneur
the martyr making cross of the socially conscious family man
and then wonder why we so willingly
give ourselves over to the currents
of apathy and passivity and masochistic narcissism
giving us guns and bullets with no idea how to shoot them
so instead we turn them into sculptures of modern art
and scream to the empty heavens
for just a hint of recognition
I can’t decide if history will forget us
or memorize the lyrics of our collective heart beats
but I have decided
to wake up from my American Dream
have decided
to forge my own reality
So I’m writing this paper on the American Dream. And so far what I’ve gathered is that people have woken up from the American Dream. Most people seem to think that the American Dream has lost its foothold in the ethos of western society. And for the people who do not think that, The American Dream is used as a tool of self-identification which changes definition from person to person. In other words, we are not presented with a generalized path to success from our overarching culture. But what does that mean for our generation? We are often criticized as being the lazy entitled generation where everybody gets a trophy. A generation of cry babies in need of validation. I can’t speak to the truth of this label, but I can state with confidence that it is up to the previous generation to lay a foundation which facilitates success for us. This has not happened. What we are left with is a generation of young men and women caught in a social limbo with no grasp of who we are and where we fit into our society. We are, as Palahniuk's famous rebel Tyler Durden said, “The middle children of history.” This is a dangerous trend for us to be embarking on. More and more I see people taking to the internet through blogs, start-ups, and…..submitting artistic or creative endeavors. We are screaming out to be noticed and saved from a life of banal apathy and office drudgery. But some people lose in society. They become janitors and garbage men. They sacrifice success for family and security. We are all expecting a trophy and we don’t all deserve one. I’m hoping that If I get my thoughts down in a creative format, then I’ll be able to have a better understanding of how I wish to organize my paper. If you live in North America, and are in the age range of 18-25 I would really appreciate if you could also take a couple of minutes to answer a ten question survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9KZVN8B
