Allentown

On Friday in the 8th-grade career classes at my school, we listened to the song "Allentown" by Billy Joel. (Fabulous song, by the way. Listen to it, or at least look up the lyrics.) We got into a discussion about whether or not the American Dream actually exists. Some people thought yes, some no, some said sometimes.
I think that it does, but that it's a lot harder than most people think. I also don't think it's all that simple. Like, a person kind of has to know how to make the American Dream happen--the rules of the "game" so to speak. People who have it easy tend to think it is easier than it really is for others. It's hard to see life through the eyes of another person. I think we tend to judge people who are poor or homeless as being lazy or as having something wrong with them. It makes it possible for us to hide from the fact that we are all just a few steps away from homelessness and poverty, too.