American individualism is a beautiful thing; however, because Americans put so much emphasis on personally making success happen they often don’t take into account that success can be hindered by conditions beyond individual control. Lack of achievement does not equate laziness, nor does low social standing make a person fundamentally different than high achievers.
When you call someone a “townie” you are recognizing certain advantages in yourself, and implying limitations on achievement for a person outside of the college’s sphere. At first glance, this difference is a difference in education. However, access to elite education is largely based on financial standing and even medical condition. If education is the stepping stone to a high paying career, those born into adverse financial or medical conditions are automatically at a social disadvantage.
Laura’s* mother suffers from degenerative nerve damage in her feet, legs, hands, and eighth cranial nerve. Doctors have been unable to provide a diagnosis or a cure. There was the possibility that the Mayo clinic would be able to provide treatment for Laura’s mom, however, the clinic is extremely expensive so Laura’s mother only went for a couple of visits.
I am sitting in Joey’s passenger seat. Joey from Topsham. Joey who I will never have to see again if the night doesn’t go well. “Guess how much I got this car for?” he asks. He’s bragging about it, so it must have been cheap.” $500?”
“No, 50. The only problem is that noise you heard just now.” He rounds a corner with a metallic yawp like someone just ripped the lid off an enormous can of Vienna sausages.
“There’s another thing about the car,” Joey adds, “the heat doesn’t work.” I wiggle my toes around inside my boots so that they don’t get numb. Lace tights were a bad choice. I close my eyes and pretend that I am riding in my roommate’s BMW with the seat warmers on full force.
Of her mom, Laura says, “She has had a much harder life than most people ever will, but everyday she gets out of bed and works to overcome it. In my opinion, that’s one of the bravest things you can do. Having her as an example has really helped me overcome my own challenges and encouraged me to chase my own dreams.”
“I don’t want to work for the machine, you know? The man,” Joey expounds. I nod. Me neither.
Laura explains that she equates the American Dream with the ideas espoused in the Declaration of Independence—namely life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. “While success is not guaranteed to everyone who is following the American Dream,” says Laura, “the most important thing is that the United States should be a place where all people can pursue it.”
Joey hands me John’s iPod. Let’s see your taste in music. I carefully scroll through and select, setting it back on the center console. “It’s a classic,” I say. Ain’t nobody dope as me I’m just so fresh so clean… Joey smiles. Anthony and John in the back seat smile. I smile.
It is necessary to believe in the American Dream although reality often limits our opportunities.
After a sequence of events beyond prediction, Joey and his friends are sitting in my living room. “This is a nice school. Are you rich? Are you paying full price? “ noyesmaybe…$53,000. I stand up and make a beeline toward the kitchen. “Anybody want another brownie?”
Laura is a Bowdoin student, and therefore will have the advantage of an elite education. Yet, while her mother’s strength and determination has provided inspiration for Laura to aim high, her family’s situation puts her at a competitive disadvantage. Instead of pursuing an internship this summer Laura will work as a waitress in a diner close to home, to help out her mother as well to earn money to contribute to her education.
A crucial component of the American Dream is the accessibility of education
In his SOTU speech our President emphasized strong community colleges, and the U.S. continues to provide educational benefits to America’s (young) veterans as designated by the GI Bill.
“Dan, I think you should join the marines with me,” Joey insists. “It’s not for me,” Dan replies. Joey’s eyes are full of fire, “All my life I’ve wanted to do something good, something meaningful.” He will go through OCS training, and college after. Anthony will move to Massachusetts and get his GED. John talks about attending SMCC. I start suggesting careers to Dan. Fireman. EMT.
Why don’t I say stockbroker? Why don’t I say Senator?
In recent years social mobility has declined. According to Arianna Huffington’s book Third World America, “If you were born to wealthy parents but didn’t go to college, you’re more likely to be wealthy than if you did go to college but had poor parents.”
Similarly, if you don’t attend college or do but don’t have a competitive enough skill-set, even employment does not guarantee you a comfortable life style.
“Nobody who works hard should be poor in America” writes David K. Shipler, author of The Working Poor: Invisible in America. However, some of America’s hardest workers are also among the poorest in the population. Why is this?
Unexpected and uncontrollable events can tax an otherwise comfortable family, and expensive maladies can affect the quality of as child’s education. “An inconvenience to an affluent family—minor car trouble, a brief illness, disrupted child care—is a crisis to them, for it can threaten their ability to stay employed.” writes Shipler.
Shipler gives the example of a crumbling house that contributes to a child’s asthma causing them to accumulate absences from school, or the inability of some parents to afford glasses for their children to see the board.
“How did you guys end up at a Bowdoin party anyway?”
“Well, we were walking down Pleasant St. and we saw this guy fall into a snow bank. So we pulled him out and asked him where everyone was going…”
College- age Americans of low income are faced with two different choices:
- Pay now to earn more later
- Work now and earn now
In the long- run, choice number one would be more profitable. However, young people that need to support themselves or their families are going to choose number two because of the immediacy of their survival. Education, you see, is a deferred reward (and many cannot afford to wait.)
“See!” I show John my flat- brim LA Dodgers cap. He says he got his for free—I did too. Townie is such a dirty word. Joey from Topsham and Anthony from Bath, they’re just like me.
In 2009 CBS premiered a show called Undercover Boss, in which CEO’s and top executives go undercover to experience working at the lowest levels of their company.
It is hard not to be touched by the story of Igor, a delivery man traveling from 7-eleven franchise to 7-eleven franchise during the nightshift.
“I came here with 50 dollars in my pocket,” he explains to the CEO of 7-eleven riding in the passenger seat of his delivery van.
“That’s amazing,” the CEO says.
Without skipping a beat Igor replies, “That’s the story about America.”
Undercover Boss is an exploration of what it means to walk in another’s shoes. However, if you have the ability to go back to your corner office at the end of the day, your insight is limited by your guaranteed success (survival.)
The undercover CEO of Hooters who stood by and witnessed the degradation of Hooters’ waitresses by their manager will never truly understand what it is to be treated with disrespect by a superior, nor will he ever be able to go undercover as a Hooters waitress. So… he’s lucky?
Most college women understand that success is not based purely on hard work or purely on luck. After surveying 100 MCW the predominant adjective that came to mind for a blue- collar woman was “hardworking,” while for an affluent woman it was “lucky.” This implies a sense that the affluent woman was not wealthy because of having worked the hardest—but isn’t this what the American Dream preaches?
Laura concludes, “I think that fundamentally, the American Dream is only being given the possibility to pursue your goals and dreams, but success is never guaranteed. As long as we have freedom, the American Dream is possible for everyone, including me.”
I have to believe it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_uy1qcO-k