My new American Dream has room for everyone

There is a big rescue effort underway in the United States to bring back the American Dream and save the endangered species known as the middle class.

According to sources, this species has been under attack since approximately 1980, and is in danger of becoming extinct.

The middle class has apparently had its version of the American Dream stomped on and severely damaged by strong opponents. The attacks continue to this day, and the Middle Class is fighting for its life.

A note to the Middle Class in the United States of America: it is never an easy thing to go through such big growing pains.

Life has changed very radically for you in such a short time. When you were just a generation or so into your evolution, you created an idea, a Dream that every generation would achieve and have More than the previous one did. It became very important to show that you had what it took, including all of the accompanying Stuff.

Somehow along the way, paying homage to that Dream may have gotten you off course a bit. All of that unconscious conspicuous consumption hasn’t really paid off in ways you can take to the bank right now, unfortunately.

Interestingly, consumption, or tuberculosis, is a disease in which the body wastes away.

How different is that from the over-consumption of the earth’s resources that has wasted away so much irreplaceable natural wealth and beauty? On top of all of this, we are reminded that Democracy is an all-in process. It’s not somebody else’s job: it’s yours, and mine. A healthy democracy needs our attention in order to stay healthy.

The environment is screaming for our attention, expensive and unnecessary wars are eating up the resources we need to keep our citizens educated, healthy, and truly safe, and we need campaign finance reform NOW. Along with so many other issues.

Where to begin to heal this mess?

These are soul searching times, times in which new Dreams can be dreamed, and new visions created.

I have been dreaming my own new American Dream, and I’d like to share it with you now. Let me know what you think, and maybe we can create something new and beautiful together.

Here’s how my American Dream looks: Multi Colored! International! All languages and races and religions and genders are welcome, in peace. Everyone has a voice in my dream, and it is the job of each of us to welcome every other one of us into the dream, no matter where we come from. In my dream, there is no hatred or judgment of anyone who is different. We live together in acceptance and peace.

One way that we got sucked into where we are now is that we forgot about Love.

Or maybe we’re still learning? We forgot about the intelligence of the earth. We forgot to trust our own instincts and the wisdom of our own bodies, and began looking outside of ourselves to ‘designated experts’ for our answers, to religious, military, and political leaders, medical and scientific experts.

We decided that we needed some Big Daddy to care for us, and make sure we were okay. It was easier to let somebody else be responsible for everything. So if we go back to The Way We Were, and forget that we are creating a new world, we will stay stuck. If we are fighting this fight to go back to the way it all was, we won’t get anywhere worth going to.

If we continue to insist on having ‘One of your own kind! Stick to your own kind!’ as our theme song, we. will. get. stuck. again. The old ways are gone – long live the old ways! What do we want to create now?

In my new dream, we can no longer afford the following:

• Racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, hatred, greed, intolerance of other’s views.

• Unconscious conspicuous consumption is so 20th century. We need to wean ourselves away from oil consumption, crappy food, pesticides and chemicals.

• Corporations are not people. If you’ve been busy complaining about how hard things are instead of making a difference, now’s your chance: it’s time to visualize a new world.

Begin with yourself: how do you see you in this new world?

What do you want to give, what is your truth, what do you have passion for doing or becoming? Maybe it’s time to go there, and fearlessly go for it. There is nothing to lose if you are in your own truth. You are needed in this new American Dream. There is no other you. Does this sound like your dream?

©Kris Cahill
‘Peace Flag’ @Coalition For World Peace