Paper #2 

Dream and Sacrifice

	More often than not, when people think about success in life, they think about the American dream as a guideline. For centuries, people, including my ancestors, emigrated from their home to come to America in search of a better life.  Even in the 21st century, we still maintain and believe in the traditional goals of the American dream.  My family and I also uphold certain characteristics when we define success.  However, I believe the most crucial characteristic in the American dream that allows all the others to occur is freedom.  Without freedom, Americans, including myself and my family would not be able to uphold our own version of the American dream; opportunity, wealth, family, shelter, happiness, and health. 
	Freedom is the most crucial element to the American dream.  I believe that freedom is the basis of all the other qualities that form the American dream.  In the Middle East, people cannot openly protest or talk badly about the government without being severely punished.  Women must obey the men because they believe that the woman’s sole purpose in life is to serve them and reproduce.  If we did not have freedom in the United States, we would not have all the opportunities we presently have; therefore, we would never be able to have the opportunity to full-fill our American dream.
        When looking at the American dream, one may realize that all of the qualities that help define the American dream are related to each other.  The majority of Americans believe in having a family.  This aspect of the dream relates with happiness and health.  I believe that if one has all the people they want in his or her life and they are all in good health, then that is family.  Because of this, the result is happiness.  When thinking of the American dream, we think of smiles, laughter, and homes in the country.  We never wish poverty on the people we love. We want them to succeed and share in the dream that we are trying to achieve.
	Because of my parents’ ongoing encouragement and love, my brother, sister, and I realize what it’s like to have some aspects of the American dream already, although we are still young.  From an early childhood, my mother and father have always told us that they will support us no matter what, that we should find something we love and make that our work, and that we need to take advantage of our gifts and talents and make ourselves the best people we can be without losing our values and morals.  My parents continue to sacrifice their own pursuit of dreams for the sake of ours.  For example, Duquesne University is a very expensive school to attend, and without sacrifice from my parents I would not be here.  My mom, besides being a teacher, has a part-time job to compensate for the expenses of Duquesne.  Another example of my parents' continued sacrifices for my brother, sister, and I, is the characteristic in the American dream of opportunity. For the past seven years my father, who is a pilot, has been commuting nine hours to work because he realized the high quality of education my siblings and I were receiving and how hard it would be for his children to adjust to life at a new school.  Without my parents teaching us many values and morals to help us obtain the American dream, I know I wouldn’t strive as hard to reach my dreams in life. 
	When I was in 9th grade, my best friend had a stroke.  She needed to re-learn how to speak, walk, and do all the daily actions in her life.  Even though to her family this was not apart of their American dream, it made me realize my dream of being able to help people and help make their own families achieve happiness and health.  Since my friend’s stroke, I have wanted to become a speech therapist.  Because of this occurrence I have been inspired to pursue this career and because of my parents’ unrelenting sacrifices to help me achieve this dream I am able to pursue it at a university that has an incredible program for it. I hope that I have the courage to sacrifice parts of my American dream so my children are able to pursue their own without worries about not succeeding.  
	Every family and every person has a different view on what the American dream is.  Some need wealth in order to be happy. Others seek a loving family, and the rest seek happiness and opportunity in his or her job or education. Although we have these differences, we all share many of the same characteristics which allow us to achieve our dreams of opportunity, wealth, family, shelter, happiness, and most importantly freedom.