Monday, March 5, 2007

According to Me

"Some will win, some will lose, some were born to sing the blues."

In a fit of burnt-out exhaustion on Sunday night, and from an excess of both disillusionment and illusion(ment?) all due to the American dream, which I was not feeling at all kindly disposed to at the time, I stumbled across that lyric from a famous eighties power ballad, and thought it was the most profound thing I had ever heard regarding the dream they call American. I believe my exact words were, "HOW does no one understand the genius that is Journey?!"

In the light of morning (or, in this case, waning afternoon), here's what I actually think:

I think the American dream is becoming increasingly demanding to expect of a nation. Whomever thought of adding the disclaimer of "pursuit" in the preamble to the Constitution was thinking ahead, and it's lucky they were, lest the Supreme Court be even more tied up with additional lawsuits from pissed-off Americans, claiming they haven't gotten the happiness promised to them by the United States government.

I think the American dream started with the need for change, and I think that is the way it will end. Whether that change takes the form of slow decay, of constant progress, of a sudden collapse, or from all of its people taking Jack Kerouac's advice and taking their act on the road - Change is Gonna Come, like Otis Redding said. It always does.

I still think Journey is kind of great.

I think the American dream is just another method of survival, invented during a time when methods of survival were badly needed.

I think if this is true, than there are worse methods. And even though I don't believe it is possible for everyone to achieve the dream as it concerns them, I think that having at least one period of life that is filled not with cynicism and disenchantment but with hope and anticipation for the fruition of dreams, is invaluable.

I think that despite their two-cent catchphrases, no one really knows what the American dream is at all, and though they can tell you in a word ("opportunity," "freedom," "the Pursuit of Happyness" or "rags-to-riches"), they can never seem to expound on it.

I think no one will ever know, because dreams are impossible to ever fully understand. Freud failed at it, and so will I. On that note, you may want to know what my American dream is. Well kiddos, when I figure it out, I'll post it first thing. Until then...

"...tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out out our arms farther… And one fine morning ——"

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