The American Dream - Its Futility and Corruption.
Friends and fellow scholars, I stand before you today a changed man, a man who has become disillusioned, a man whose faith has been misplaced in that concept we Americans we hold so dear, The American Dream'. A few months ago I left my familiar confines in the Midwest to take up residency on Long Island in New York. I attempted to create a life for myself and fulfil my dreams and ambitions, to achieve that great American dream. Perhaps I was too optimistic or maybe indeed nave but I accomplished nothing of the sort. The East holds a quality of distortion for me. Its morals are twisted, its values are self focused, its views are tainted by decadence. I left New York feeling disheartened and cynical about human integrity and above all, the American Dream. My experiences highlighted the dream's demise and futility, and made me aware of those determined to corrupt its worthy cause.
When our founding forefather's eyes first fell upon the fresh, green breast of the new world they were filled with wonder and held their breath in the mere presence of the continent. They entered a new life in a country where anything is achievable. They entered the land of the free. They entered America. And so a dream was born.
It is the American Dream to live a life of freedom, liberty and equality, in a land where anything is achievable if you work for it, a land of opportunity. Early settlers, like the Jews, came to America as refugees, fleeing persecution, in search of a new life. Our country and dream symbolises freedom, liberty and equality.
Thomas Jefferson imprinted these principles on our society in our Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."" Yet the dream has soured.
