An American Dream Deferred

"What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotton meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?"
-Langston Hughes

I have spoken with many Egyptians about America. I have come to the conclusion that they don’t love us for our money or hate us for our freedom.

They say they used to have a dream of one day going to America. They knew that there was more opportunities, more jobs, a better chance to lead a happy, safe life. That America was a magical place where the suffering the would cease.

For me, the idea of the American dream has always been a sham. Like a Hallmark holiday, it deceives us into believing in we have to participate in a consumer culture for the greater good of the economy. Maybe I have no right to criticize this dream when I am a white guy who grew up in an affluent neighborhood and was given every opportunity to succeed.

But the so-called dream is to get a well-paying job where you sacrifice your integrity for a few extra bucks. You get an education but you’re paying off loans you can’t afford. You buy a house that you never really own because you’re paying the bank for the rest of your life. You get married, have 2.3 kids and pretend like everything is perfect but behind your front door the family is a wreck.

For me, this dream died with those who sacrificed their lives for hope.

Today, America is riddled with corruption. Huge companies dominant the media and tow the government line. Pharmaceutical companies could get exemption from privacy laws that insure they are not corrupt.GOP Wants to Create Secretive Gov’t Agency. There is no difference from Republicans and Democrats. They all serve the same masters of power and money.

But for those in other countries, America presented the real chance to go somewhere truly free, truly democratic.

But now that dream is dying.

I don’t want to give up on the hope that the charade will someday end. But when I hear people who once held such a quixotic view of my country now doubting their convictions, the skeptic in me wonders if it will ever change.

How long can we wait? How long can we stand by and watch as the corruption becomes more than an endemic phenomenon? I’d like to think there are some good lawmakers out there. I’d like to have faith that people will not tolerate it. But as Americans we are distracted with the pursuit of the dream that does not exist.

How long before that deferred dream becomes a nightmare?