Writing

Here is what I wrote for the end-of-the-year literary issue of The Beacon. I liked writing it because I am an essay-ie person (yay college!)

My American Dream VS my American Reality
from a Graduating Senior

     The dream for Americans is to live in peace and without oppression. We want financial stability with a job, some want perfect families and someone they love, others want to be successful and we all want overall happiness in our lives. The American Dream is something that most people have dreamt about from the moment they saw it for themselves - whether miraculously in real life or on their TV screen. It doesn’t seem like a hard thing to accomplish when you are simply fantasizing rather than pursuing.
     However, the reality for most Americans is that you will not be free of oppression. As soon as you reach the age where you are on your own, you realize the struggles you are going to face before they even happen. We face the issue of money – how is it possible to pay for everything you need? The average cost of living even for a single person is demanding with today’s economy. People are losing their jobs everyday and new jobs are hard to find. The working world is a very competitive place, though for some it’s worse than others.
     For me, I know the working world will be a very competitive place because of my chosen career path. Not only is it not a high paying career at all but finding somewhere to work is difficult. Pretty soon they won’t need very many of what I am hoping to become and that scares me because it is the only thing I want to do. It is the only thing I believe I would be good at. This is not the only thing someone should fear, however, because every college student should have the fear of failing. Not failing a class but failing in the sense that you are not as good as everyone else that is trying to achieve the same objective as yourself is.
     Even unintentionally, people in your life will bring you down. When that happens, depending your own personality, you will either brush it off and keep going or you’ll feel every ounce of the discouragement they are trying to enforce to you and think that you are not doing what you are suppose to. If you want to succeed, you cannot take negativity seriously. Yes, it's very important to take criticism but only if it will affect you positively. You have to believe that you are doing this for you and not someone else. That is what I believe I am doing for myself when I go to college in the fall. Even with the fear of failure and finances I will still be doing what I love.
     The dream for Americans is to live in peace and without oppression. My dream, as an American, is to get the education I need to successfully become the theatre and music teacher that I want to become. My reality, however, could be that I will fail and end up living in the dusty streets of New York City or Chicago trying desperately to get a teaching or performing gig somewhere. Maybe I'll be a "starving artist" as they say. Competition and money are scary things but I will still try, because if I never try then I will never be happy, and my own dream as I have envisioned for myself will never come true.