Reviving the American Dream

      Our nation's 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, once said, "Believe you can, and you're halfway there." These words ring true and clear in my mind every day, with every action I make, as I strive toward my goal of opening my own business.
      I am in college now and undoubtedly several years removed from the realization of this dream. In the meantime, I am encouraged not to lose sight of my long term goal by the legacy left by many great Americans before me. From our founding fathers who declared the pursuit of happiness a human right to the great entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie, and from one of the earliest revolutionaries Thomas Paine to the hard-hitting muckraker Jane Addams, there are too many amazing citizens of this great country to consider just one my greatest inspiration. Therefore, I consider an aura that each of them embodies to be my biggest inspiration: the American spirit.

      My ultimate goal is to one day own an organic marketplace dedicated to providing local, clean, unprocessed groceries to my neighbors at affordable prices. Though this may seem a hippie-dippie goal, it has less to do with personal health benefits than with growing the economy, supporting small farms, empowering families with a choice, and taking back the food industry from  failed FDA and USDA funded factory farms like Monsanto.
     I consider working toward my goal a hobby because I enjoy it and put effort into it every day. When I am discouraged, uncomfortable, or plain old scared when it comes to achieving my goal I do not scurry away and tend to a back-up plan. I think of that American spirit- that can do, will do attitude- that so many great citizens of yesterday employed in their own lives. I know that our country is not perfect and may not be as good as it once was, but it would not be nearly as achieved as it is today if someone like Martin Luther King, Jr. never stood up and fought for his dream. I tell myself that if John D. Rockefeller could utilize the path of freedom and ability to transform his life and his country, so can I.
      I am awestruck by what the American people have accomplished over our country's relatively short lifespan. Though some famous citizens have values that do not quite align with my own, I still find that there is an abundance of role models in our nation's history from whom to seek inspiration. In a time where it is fashionable to be unpatriotic or, contrarily, blindly patriotic to a point of comedy, I think it is important (and almost rare) to draw motivation from our history. In this way, we can realize that the American dream is not simply a pigeon-holed vision of a white picket fence- it is living out what millions have fought and died for, that freedom to choose and live and be how we like that our forefathers started revolutions for. That is the American spirit that spurs me toward reviving the American dream. I will not live a mediocre life in a country made so great by the bravery and determination of those who came before me, but a life that will continue their legacy and hopefully- after I have done everything in my power to embody that spirit on my own- inspire at least one more person to do the same.

Need an Inspiration? Read about more great Americans here.

My Primary Social Media Outlet

I am not a big fan of social media for personal use. Prior to beginning this class, I had two social media profiles: Instagram and Snapchat. Snapchat is less of a social media presence than it is a means of direct communication, much like text messaging, so as far as social media goes I have to say that I prefer Instagram as my primary outlet.
I do not like social media platforms that allow for long conversations or the posting of thoughtless blurbs. Twitter, of course, limits characters to 140 which cuts down on long conversations but exponentially increases the posting of thoughtless musings. In my experience I have known Facebook to encourage both of these behaviors. For some reason, be it the ease of "sharing" information or the hive mentality that takes over when reading lots of personal stories on one's feed, people just seem to lose all common sense and courtesy when logging into Facebook.
The private messaging and unlimited text space for comments/ wall posts allows people to give as many pieces of their mind as they'd like to share, and the interface of the computer screen seems to offer a feeling of security, encouraging louder and more obnoxious behavior/ opinions.
Instagram does not limit characters in comments but discourages them silently since it is mainly picture based. It has an extremely simple interface that allows me to unfollow and block anyone who bothers me with comments or loud, unsolicited opinions very quickly.
It may seem less than personable, and perhaps a bit harsh, to choose a social media platform based on its ease of blocking users and the amount of content I am likely to have to "put up with" from others, but it has proven to help me maintain better in-person relationships and cut an enormous amount of anger and negativity from my life.