The American Dream Must Have Been A Dream After All

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Park Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of New York City, home to the ultra rich, the top tier of the American upper class, the 1% (Park Avenue). Those who reside in Park Avenue not only have vast amounts of wealth, but an immense amount of influence that has turned the tables in their favor. But, if you go a couple of miles North of Park Avenue and cross the Harlem river, you arrive at the other side of Park Avenue or otherwise known as the Bronx, one of the poorest districts in all of New York (Park Avenue). Here you see the real hardships average Americans must voyage through in order to put food on the table and provide shelter for their families. 40% of the 700,000 residents who live in the Bronx live in poverty making less than $40 a day (Park Avenue). Some of those residents have lost their jobs due to the economic recession, created by the bankers on the other side of the river (Park Avenue). The wages of these poor citizens has dropped in the past thirty years, while prices have sky rocketed. Even though economic and social hardships have struck these innocent citizens, they still have a chance at achieving the American dream, right? After all, this is America, the land of opportunity, the place where dreams are born and bred. However, America is not what it once was fifty years ago. In today's society, the American dream is hindered by issues involving gender discrimination, racial discrimination, and weak economic mobility. The influence of money has broadened among our society creating an elite group of winners, and leaving the rest as losers. Our government has been intoxicated under the influences of those holding a paper with a handful of zeros scrawled on it.... ... middle of paper ... ...s the Other, as a class of lazy bums, as a hindrance to our country. However, the power of the lower class is far greater than any power on this earth. For if we embrace and nurture this power, our country would grow like never seen before, the obstacles that threaten our livelihood would cease to exist, and our society would be represented as a model for all other nations to follow. But due to the current crisis of our country's financial, political, and social foundations, being the other in our civilization would rarely lead to achieving the American Dream. If our society was only cultivated to meet the standards of the American Dream, only then will the poor meet the standards of the rich, only then will our country defeat the long historical battle against poverty, and only then will a child born in the Bronx end up living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

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