The American Nightmare

Here's a small snippet from an e-book that I hope to make available soon.

In America, we are encouraged to acquire more things in order to achieve happiness. Don't believe it? Watch a few hours of TV commercials and get back to me. We are encouraged to live for the day and spend money today – whether we have it or not. We are led to believe that "charging" our blues away will bring joy and fulfillment.

The culture tells us to buy more stuff, spend time watching mindless entertainment, and worship celebrities. Don't believe that? Eavesdrop on a few conversations the next time you're in a restaurant or standing in line at the DMV.

"Did you watch (enter name of meaningless TV show here) last night?"

"Did you hear about (enter the name of the latest flash-in-the-pan celebrity here)?"

"I got this blouse on sale at (enter the name of the latest clothing store here) last Saturday. It was only $80."

The culture says that we should have a miserable job where we work 50+ hours per week, buy a house, drive late model cars, live for the weekends, take two weeks of vacation per year, and contribute fully to our 401(k) so that we can retire before we turn 70 and buy an RV to travel the country for a few years before our poor health brings us home.

Then you die.

It's called the American Dream.

Or is it a nightmare?

What will you think when you are on your deathbed and you realize that everything the culture said you should do to make yourself happy was wrong? What if you follow the media's prescription for the American Dream only to discover the concoction you've swallowed led to nowhere?

I don't want to die with regrets. I don't think you do either.