How does the American Dream affect my family? To be honest, when I first thought about it, i had no idea. My family's lived here for a pretty long time, they didn't make an epic journey upwards through the social classes. They were always living comfortably in the middle class. My immediate family is the same story. Middle class, comfortable, not immigrating from anywhere other than Illinois or California. I'm blessed and privileged and I know it.
But the more i thought about it, the more I realized it had to come from somewhere. Somewhere along the line my family did immigrate from somewhere, and come here. I knew I had European relatives, and that my mom had a book my great grandfather wrote about our family's history on her side, but I'd never paid it much attention. So over dinner I talked to my parents and tried to come up with something. And this is what I've got.
My Grandpa's Grandparents immigrated to America. They lived on a farm in Iowa. When my Grandpa was growing up on the very same farm with his 5 brothers, German was still being spoken in the house as the predominant language. They all grew up with a tie to German culture and language. But none of the 5 sons wanted to be farmers. Somewhere along the line they adopted the idea that they could become more than what they were. My Grandpa became a nurse aboard ships in WWII, and a YMCA executive. Another son became a pastor, another a teacher. The last two were a doctor and a Sociologist.
From here I know what came next. My Grandpa got to travel all over the world establishing YMCA offices. He lived in Hong Kong for years with My grandma, my Dad, and my Aunt. He traveled all across Europe, to Indonesia and India.
He started out on a farm in Iowa. An average farm, with 5 sons, and parents and grandparents who hadn't even adopted English. He broke the mold, and became something different.
And not one of the 5 sons were farmers.
Lindsay- I love the fact that you thought enough of this assignment to sit down and have a discussion with your parents about the history of your family. I am sure that they were eager to share with you. So cool about yoru Grandpa, and how he became such an important organizer traveling the world from humble beginnings. This is a paradigm that encapsulates the American Dream in a nutshell: the idea that a person can name their own dream, then rise up from one station of life and achieve the dream that they set out to achieve. In a lot of ways, your family is living American History. Do you know if your great-great grandparents were Homesteaders in Iowa? Perhaps your parents will know. I'd be curious to find out.
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