Friday, again. For many it marks the end of a very long, very stressful week of pushing forward to that iconic American Dream. This time honored tradition of “work week” was programmed into us at a very young age with school. Monday through Friday you study hard, work hard and in return you will be rewarded with good grades, possible scholarships to a higher level of work week with even more rewards in the guise of degrees. All for the chance at a better spot for which to continue to working that American Dream.
The American Dream is not a finish line, a destination or a goal. It is the process, the journey to and across that finish line, to that gilded cup or statue. I am living the American Dream right this very second. So many today think that the American Dream is the end result, what happened? Where did that get twisted? Or am I all screwed up? Isn’t it the opportunity to achieve success through hard work and opportunity? Opportunities are all over the place despite what the pundits say the numbers are. The problem is that WE have changed. The younger generations are not familiar with what hard work and determination are. They have a new concept behind it all. Can I even express to you how much I loathe the fact that I have said “These kids today” on more than one occasion?
But the country has changed too. When the American Dream was born, there was vast empty space. Minuscule infrastructure, cities were tiny, few and far between. That hard work and opportunity was there with roads to build, tracks to lay, towns to build and people to manage it all. Now, not so much. We have too many things and too many people standing around each of them managing and co-managing. It’s different. No one wants to start at the bottom and work their way up. No one is content to being on the bottom and making sure that ground floor is clean, pothole free and flowing smoothly. I’m rambling aren’t I? I do that.
As I said, I am living the American Dream. My work week doesn’t end today, Friday. I am taking those opportunities to pursue that golden chalice of success and hopefully with that will come the prosperity in the form of a few checks here and there. I relish working into the wee hours of the night to create something that may not put me in the tax bracket of a Kardashian but I sure as hell will have left something a little more substantive than any one of them. At least to me. Isn’t that the real Dream though? How will someone 100 years down the road look at my work sitting next to a book of selfies? Well, maybe they will pick up the selfie book first but… They will sit down and stick with mine a hell of a lot longer and I am pretty sure they will be left with a little more substance in the end. But what the hell do I know? I write fiction, and in that fiction I kill people. You can come to your own judgments on that. No pressure or anything.
Bottom line is, happy Friday! I hope your week has left you with a sense of accomplishment and gratitude as mine has. Rest up, if you can. Take a little time to smell those roses and recharge your batteries because Monday starts soon. For me, it starts every morning and I love it.
