a terrible argument

Having moved to Georgia 3 and a half years ago, you’d think that the question of Coke or Pepsi wouldn’t still perplex me. Or that I’d finally have an answer to Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts? Or everyone’s favorite question: Do you like it better here or in New York? Am I supposed to be able to answer that? New York City is my home, but I’ve lived in Georgia long enough to still feel an identity crisis. New York is a hustling bustling city of opportunities, Georgia is where we moved to get away from the hustle and bustle. In Georgia, people in random cars passing by wave at you like you’ve been friends, whereas if you waved at a stranger in New York, they’d act like they didn’t see you. The food in New York is amazing, the snow is deep, the people are always in a hurry. Georgia is full of trees and fresh air, the summers are scorching, and the people’s version of “hospitality” is knowing my business, from where my great-grandfather worked to why my right pinky nail is a darker color than the rest. Do I want to go home? Yes, that’d be ideal. I wouldn’t need a car, or a lot of money to get food that I don’t really like. BUt here i am, a drifter. So for the meantime, while I'm contemplating how to answer the question of "Georgia or New York," I'll take both places for what they are: the places that have helped shape me into the diverse person that I have become.

The American Dream?

The American Dream is a very fluid thought. For a suburban middle class family, it might be owning their own business, or moving into a bigger house. For a lower class family in the projects, it much be simply puting dinner on the table. Almost everyone that moved to America came here for a better life, came here to be better than they were before. America is the "land of opportunities." So whether someone wants to go from being a single mother to a CEO of a big company or from a nobody to an American Idol, this is supposedly the ideal place to do it.

But what do I think?I think the American Dream is to keep dreaming. Everytime people reach a certain plateau, they look up, see someone else living on the top of the mountain, and keep reaching to get to where they THINK they want to be. Everyone is always watching everyone else, wanting to be everyone else. Keeping up with the Joneses is the American Way.

Thats not a bad thing though, is it? To dream, to look foward to who you could and should be. Bettering yourself isn't bad, is it? Only if your stepping on other peoples, or maybe even your own, feet to do it. But what do I know? I'm in college so I can graduate, and try to live my American Dream.