American Dream?

I know, I know. I should have had a new blog ready days ago and in my own defense, I did have one written. I just never posted it. And I probably will never post it. Why? I don’t know, there is no real answer for that question. But then again, I have a bunch of blogs, finished and unfinished on my hard drive. Some good, some not. This seems to be the way of things.

You see my dear reader, lately I’ve taken stock of my writings, both fictional and non-fictional and I am at a loss of time to be able to both effectively. It sucks.

My work schedule seems to be demanding more and more of my time and when I get home in the late hours of the day I am so wrecked I can’t even see straight let alone think coherent thoughts long enough to write down the drivel I’ve had coursing through my brain all day. Oh, in case you don’t know; I work approximately 64 hours a week between two jobs. Both jobs require my brain to be pretty active which, if I were 10 years younger wouldn’t be such a problem. As for my days off? Well, lets just say I don’t get 48 hours off in a row a week. I survive at a maximum of 24 and in those hours I like to spend time with my family or just sitting on my porch watching the world float by on four wheeled exhaust spewing machines and listening to the sounds of my neighbors live the life of the American Dream.

American Dream… that’s funny…

What is the American Dream in this new century of ours? You see, if we look back 100 years and take a snapshot of life in America in 1911 we would see the birth of air travel, there was no interstate commerce. Nor was there internet, cell phones, electricity in most houses was unheard of. Toy trains had just started to become a fad. No World War I or World War II. No Nazi’s or Al Quieda. No bottled water or decent plumbing. Life was lived at 25 miles per hour and people could keep up with the daily activities that consumed them. Hell, we were still on speaking terms with Cuba. Germany was still one country and as far as nuclear war, no one even knew what plutonium was.

Most Americans, at least from my research, just wanted peace and quiet and the ability to live their lives in the land of freedom and hope. People traveled by trains to get from one state to the next and usually spent their vacations with family for over 2 weeks. (I don’t think I want very many members of my family staying that long at my house but it worked for 20^th century families.)

In the art world, there was no Piccaso or Warhol or Pollack. In the music world, the Blues and Jazz had yet to take its stranglehold on the likes of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Miles Davis, John Coletrain and Billy Boy Arnold. As a matter of fact record players were not even in most homes nor were radios or televisions.

People went to work, school or stayed home and took care of the little things that built this country into what it was to become. If you wanted the news, you read the newspaper.

Today? Hmm, everyone wants the latest and greatest gadget on the electronic market; news is fed to you through the screaming fools on television and the internet. If you want facts you either google it or check Wikipedia and everyone accepts it for what it is. Cars race by with people in them at 70 miles an hour and no one has time to form coherent thoughts or sentences.

And maybe that is what we are becoming… mindless electronic addicted zombies who don’t even know our neighbors names. Friendships that were once based on the place you were born are now based on who you talk to online and when you see the latest pop movie at the multiplex. Real connections to folks are done through 140 characters or less. The American Dream of 1911 died with the advancement of technology and its innate ability to shrink the earth to a community the size of a small town in rural America where everyone knows everyone’s name.

I’m having a tough time with this right now; I’m trying to find my American Dream and I can’t seem to figure out what those two words mean. If you have any suggestions please let me know.