I Have A Dream

            A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep. Ok no, I’m not about to quote the song from Cinderella but having a dream is quite important in your life. If you don’t have a dream, you have nothing to live for, your life is meaningless, and you can leave now.

            We all have a dream. Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. Pun intended. The characters within A Raisin in the Sun fight for their dreams.

Mama wants to buy the house with the money she receives in the mail. Even though her son, Walter, wants it for himself, selfishly, for the liquor stores, Mama holds out for the better of the family. She wants a better life for her family, to get the house.

Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor, even in an era where women were supposed to be the stay-at-home mom, to cook, clean, take care of the kids while the men were out bringing in the dough, she still maintained her dream to become a doctor. Everyone in the family doubted her, except for Mama because she wanted to put aside money for her education.

Walter’s dream is, well, not a great dream in my eyes. To own liquor stores is not what I would call the American dream. But his intentions were in the right place. He wants to be able to support his family and not have to rely on Mama. He is prideful just like every other man so his intentions are clear but his actual dream is not the right place to start.

Dreams are what keep a person going. It’s their hope, it’s their passion, it’s what makes the world go ‘round. Go out on a limb and just dream.

Beautiful Soul

     We as human beings have the right to either stand up for what we believe in or just follow the crowd. Now that choice is all up to you. You can be person walking on the wrong side of the hallway to set an example or just go with the flow.

     On Friday, I read the poem “If We Must Die”. This poem was basically about how if you’re going to stand up for something, fight back and don’t give in. The vocabulary the writer used was very vulgar and distasteful which made the poem that much more interesting to read. It showed no mercy in its imagery for the white people being represented as mad, hungry dogs but also cowardly, while the African American were represented as hogs.

     When I was reading this poem it reminded me a lot of how Native Americans were treated when the white settlers came to America. We pushed and pushed to “Americanize” them, but, to be honest, what does that even mean. There is no set definition to the word American and what the “perfect” American is. That’s what makes this country so great today compared to all the other countries of the world. We are different but we accept each other as human beings.  

     Strive to be different. Take the crowd head on. Don’t give in to what’s the norm. Make a statement. Be unique. Be you.

Country Bumpkins

Have you ever thought about what other countries think about the United States? The thought came across my mind when I was reading Reading Lolita in Tehran. Mr. Nyazi’s perspective of America was very harsh. It was very black and white. No shades of gray. He accused us of rape on their culture. Now to use such a word like rape I would say is pretty harsh. That word is never taken lightly. So to accuse the United States of such an act is a huge side to take on the matter.

Now my side is neither the side of The Great Gatsby nor Mr. Nyazi’s interpretation. I take the side of America has influenced many countries but America has never said you have to be the United States of America through and through.

Have you seen America! We are a flipping melting pot of every culture, religion, race, and ethnicity you could possibly think of! We don’t reject people of their rights just because they celebrate different holidays than us. They’re American, we embrace them. If anything we stole culture and various other things from every other country in the world. We are united as one but different in every possible way. We embrace the uniqueness.

Now back to the question of what other countries thought of us. I always thought that everyone saw Americans as country bumpkins. But now that you really think about it, we are the leader of Western civilization. We strive for bigger and better things.

‘Merica.