It's the American dream. An impoverished family-- immigrants or natives-- sacrifices everything to provide a better life for the their children. They live in squalor, wear worn clothes, live off the cheapest foodstuffs available, forgo healthcare, sell assets, deplete savings, anything, just to provide for the their children.
And the unifying thread, the theme that binds all of these stories, is the same goal: education.
Some will point to laws, to government, to the Constitution, and say "Here is America." They are wrong.
These are not America, only the defenders of America. Our country, above all else, are these parents who sacrifice everything to build their families, and improve their lot-- because in so doing, they build America, and improve our world. So the Latina mother living in a slum, working three jobs at minimum wages, is as American as any of the heroes of our history books. She isn't pursuing the American Dream; she is the Dream
So where does it go wrong? How is that this is every individual's dream, but not our unified dream? We write our American myths about individuals who struggle for their children, but when we tally our votes to create a government that is entrusted with embodying and protecting our dream, how is it that the Dream itself is lost?
We sacrifice for our children, we sacrifice for their education; and yet, somehow, education and our children are always the last thing considered, and the first thing cut?
Simple. We haven't put our foot down. We haven't insisted on better.
We have watched the campaign donors, the big multinationals, the Pentagon, the bureaucrats, and the lobbyists get the lion's share. We haven't said that education comes first. We haven't demanded that children, ALL children, are to come first.
The American Dream is our Dream. And it is high time we insisted that our government protect that Dream, above everything else.
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Joseph N. Abraham MD is president and founder of The American Public School Endowments and booksXYZ.com, the Nonprofit Bookstore sending all proceeds to Education. booksXYZ.com lists over 2,000,000 paperbacks, hardbacks, and audio books. Dr. Abraham has written the book Happiness: A Physician/Biologist Looks at Life, an innovative self help book.
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