There is a great deal of debate today about the "American Dream." Some say it is an old ideal that is no longer reachable in today's world.
Others say it never really existed — that it was only a myth to keep the poor quiet. Others say that today, the American Dream is a government-supplied income that keeps us from abject poverty.
In my opinion, those who think any of these bromides is correct never understood the American Dream in the first place. American productivity, that huge and powerful engine that drives our economy wasn't always what it is today. Today's economy which, in spite of the assaults on it by those who would "fundamentally change America" to a more European style of socialism, still affords us very high living standards. This economy has its roots in opportunity and self-reliance. There were never any guarantees. What you had is what you created and worked for. It wasn't given to you nor earned by the endeavors of others.
Poor? Yes, at one time, most of us were poor. We were poor in the way only people in the midst of a major depression can be poor. We lived in ways one thinks of now as ways only those in third-world countries live. Most of our houses were without electricity. Few people we knew had indoor plumbing.
As a young boy, I don't remember ever being in a house with air conditioning. We lit kerosene lamps for light. We dug pits and built wooden privies with quarter-moon shaped holes for ventilation on top of them. We carried water in buckets from the windmill or well for drinking, bathing and all other water needs. In the sweltering summer heat, we wet down dish towels or sheets and hung them over the windows to cool the air as it passed through into the house. And, most of us survived.
We kids frequently slept outside, weather permitting, on iron beds and springs that were weather-proof and mattresses that could be carried inside and thrown on the floor when it rained. And, no one reported our parents for child endangerment.
We butchered our own beef, pork, poultry and game. The beef, we mostly wrapped in cheesecloth and hung on the windmill. The pork we smoked. The poultry and game we ate immediately or canned. Produce from the garden was dried or canned. No governmental agency snooped into how we did these things, but we survived anyhow. We drank milk that not been pasteurized nor homogenized. It was never government inspected, but it didn't kill us.
We made this all a part of "the American Dream." which meant if we worked hard, lived frugally, and planned prudently, we would eventually have property of our own, which we could pass on to our children, who could improve on it, maybe enlarge on it, and pass it on to their children.
This was the American Dream. It was part of our American culture. It was a heritage worth fighting for — worth dying for if necessary. I can only hope we have not failed to pass on to our children the basic principles of thrift and hard work which have always been the foundation of the American Dream.
Don Johnson is an octogenarian who lives in Palestine, TX. He writes articles that illuminate the human condition and frequently show the contrast between our lifestyle of today with that of yesterday. He welcomes your input at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .