The American Dream

So I go to a really, really good private school. There, I can learn from exceptionally dedicated teachers who have an amazing commitment to teaching. And my parents—how supportive they are, how incredibly invested they are in my success. At the school they’ve sacrificed to send me to, we’ve got Smartboards, a 60 acre campus, astroturf, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, rain gardens, outdoor classrooms, an art room that’s bigger than a single floor of my house, computers everywhere, books, a dining center (not a cafeteria), low class sizes, low student-to-faculty ratios, and we have all these resources, and I can study hard, do the homework, get extra help, come in early, stay late.

And I can do this, and I can apply to really, really good colleges. Maybe I don't get into my top choice, but that’s okay, the others will do just fine. At college, I can challenge myself, push myself with my courses, come in early, stay late, talk with professors, take them out to lunch, do research with them, get glowing recommendations, read interesting and invigorating things, learn more about the world, and eventually, graduate, and move into the Real World (not the TV show). I can get a job, maybe through a connection at an internship I did over the summer. And maybe I got that internship because of that research I did with that professor who wrote me that glowing recommendation. 

So then I’m working, and earning money. And I can work hard--harder than others at my company or firm, I can rise to the top because of my work ethic, my drive. I make money, and of course, spend--consume--and I contribute to the economy through my consumerism! This is great! This is how it’s supposed to work! Money that I’ve made goes back into the economy! And who knows, maybe I’ll have enough money left over to have kids. That would be nice. 

With this, I successfully participate in Capitalism! Don’t you see? I studied harder than others at school! I worked harder at college than others! I worked harder than others at my job! Deservedly, I make more money than others.....Deservedly? 

Really? What did I do to deserve this? It seems like I was given this opportunity through some accident of birth, a roll of the cosmic dice. See, what we neglected to consider, was the fourteen year-old girl living in that terrible part of [substitute your favorite American city here]. She takes care of her four younger brothers by herself because she’s never met her father, and her mother is generally too busy looking for work or money or heroin or cocaine. The other problem the girl has (besides feeding and clothing her younger brothers, and going to school herself), is she’s pregnant with her seventeen year old boyfriend’s child. She’s been hanging out with this boy because he has been giving her money he’s earned from slinging drugs. School’s mostly a thing of the past for him. Naturally, he wanted sex, and she obliged. Was there really any choice?

Now, tell me something. Is this her fault? Is she poor because she didn’t work hard enough, like I did? Is she lazy? Is it unfair for her to receive “handouts”? And I’m wondering: why are people hungry in the richest nation in the world? Maybe the problem isn’t with her, but with the situation she was born into. Maybe it’s a systemic problem instead of an individual problem.

But I studied hard, I worked hard—I certainly did, So why should I have to give my money that I earned to people like this girl? Because I was given an amazing head start on life. It’s like I’ve been placed on a completely different playing field, and given the chance to compete. And compete I did.

And the fourteen year-old girl’s playing field? Well, not quite the same as mine. Hers isn’t made of Astroturf. More like concrete. Hers doesn’t have big white stadium lights, just the neon sign of a liquor store. 

So go ahead, call me a socialist. Call me vindictive. Call me Anti-Capitalist and Un-American. You can tell me I’m being too political, but I’m really just trying to be humane.