The New American Dream
I had a thought today about writing a story about the true new American dream. The lede of the story begins:
My father was a self-made man—everything he made, everything he earned, he made and earned of his own accord. And from as early as I could remember I always found him to be a very selfish man, that whatever man I would be made into, well I hoped it would not be that type of man. Perhaps it's a genuine change of the times that this thought was so ingrained into me, that it could not be dissipated no matter what my father did or said. Now, as I make these reflections, I know I stand well and tall and not on my own but with others. I am fortunately not a self-made man—a selfish man. But I am an other-made man with a life and an earning built by the fruits of others' labor. This truly is a glorious time, full of adoration of the work of all men. This is the selfless age devoid of the myopic visions of those like my father. This is an age where others make my own. And I love it.
A closing question: When did the phrase "American dream" originate? A search in the Online Etymology Dictionary reveals that it originated in 1931, certainly well after the fact that the notion of not one America reigned popular.