“A phrase connoting hope for prosperity and happiness, symbolized particularly by having a house of one's own.”

Do we even want this anymore? Has the dream changed or is there still even a dream? 

We’ve definitely changed, America, that is. My generation has. A large part of the collapse of the American Dream results from there being an excess of opportunities for everyone. It’s decision blindness. Apple knows how to deal with decision blindness. They give you one or two options for each category of devices and you just buy it. Our grandparents parented this same way, I think, mostly unbeknownst to them. They said you go to this school, you work here, you marry her, you buy a house nearby, and retire as early as possible. We’ve gotten to the point where our country affords us to not follow that narrow path. We have such a succinct lack of direction in our generation. If I could hope for anything out of this, it would be a rebirth of romanticism, philosophy, and just asking the questions that were out of line for our parents to ask.

We do what we want and we marry who we want. Obviously, I understand that my point of view is skewed being a middle class white male, but my points still stand. Do I even want a house? I want to live in the city. I want to live in a community of diversity. 

I’m roommates with a couple who is married and anytime I tell an older person about it they ask if it’s weird. They assume it would be weird. They assume the couple hates it and wants their own place. We desire community more than ever before. We are raw and we are honest. We don’t have the American Dream and we don’t want it. So is it gone, or has it just changed?

I honestly cannot pinpoint something that I would define as the current American Dream. I think maybe passion. If I could ask something of the next generation as my parents and grandparents asked of theirs, I would ask them to have passion. Be passionate with everything you do. I’ve read articles that complain about Instagram and how it makes everyone feel bad about themselves because they look at their friends’ posts and see how boring their own lives are. I say to them that if they think their life is boring, they’re living it wrong. I understand at times there are extenuating circumstances that would impair this but…. quit your abhorrent job, lose your friends who treat you like shit, and live intentionally. Love life. I think that is my generation’s American Dream.