Kiana Cornish
October 12, 2008
The American way of life is looked at in many different ways from different American perspectives. Although people look at the American Way of Life differently, in all definitions, success seems to play a part in it. Personally I believe people view the American Way of Life as mostly being successful because that's the way it has been portrayed for years. On televisions, in papers, movies, books, there is always a person living the ideal "American Way of Life,” and that person is always what we would call "successful." While interviewing people it deepened my belief that success is definitely an important aspect of life to Americans. I interviewed a babysitter who was taking care of two little babies, I asked about her perspective on the AWOL and she replied, “Work, work, work, and pay bills. It’s very, very hard! Work to make it in this country.” Another person I interviewed was an old couple, they answered “Family, raising kids, basic luxuries, vacations, a little more normal than usual,” and a young man also said “Pursuing whatever you’re passionate about, it’s not easy to achieve it.” Overall people had the same perspective on the American Way of Life. They all believed that you have to work hard in order to get what you want, but then again how it’s not always easy to achieve something. When asking a random man what he thought American Way of Life was, he gave an answer that many Americans probably wouldn’t say. “That's a very hard question, life is life u live it accordingly, I haven't been other places to be able to tell the difference, right now I have no complaints I just want to kill my landlord I'm having a problem with him.” This is another reality of the way Americans live, there are always issues that we have to deal with that can affect us in major ways. Whether is the rent, gas prices, or our education, its always going to be an issue in our lives no matter what. “Tolerance,” was a word one woman used to describe the AWOL, tolerance for issues in our life if what we all need to have. Overall ones’ definition of success depends on their views on life, what one may think is successful, another may think is a waste of time. “It depends on what your doing to be successful, education, getting your own business, getting a house out of New York, family, dog, truck, a hobby. Yes I don’t live n the city I live in Long Island. A little bit more than the average man I'm not rich but I'm happy, and you gotta be healthy.” This was an answer that a random construction worker told me. By him saying that the American Way of Life was getting a house out of New York shocked me because many people who think of the American Way of Life, usually say that New York is a place where they would want to move in order to live the American Way of Life. Individuals who live in Long Island aren’t the people who are usually looked at as living the American Way of Life, but in this construction worker case, he believed that by living in Long Island he was actually living the typical American way of life. Health is also something that was spoken about in his description of the American way of life. I noticed that no one ever mentions health when speaking about the typical American way of life. This is surprising because when looking at different peoples lives, most of the time they all have health care or has been in a situation where their health was in danger. So for many people not to mention this, it shows that health is something that is maybe taken for granted in many American lives. “More money brings more problems for people, so being successful and rich isn’t always the best thing for an American person. There is a recession going on right now, so it’s hard for anyone to become successful when they weren’t in that position in the first place. Me as a single, struggling mom, it seems as if the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer.” While interviewing a single mom inside of a pizzeria, she said certain things that a lot of middle class and lower class people might be thinking. I agree with her ideas on the American way of life. If you look at the economy as a whole right now, it doesn’t seem as if the middle class and lower class people are benefitting from some of the decisions that are being made for our country. The people who are successful in the world now are becoming even more successful, while people who are struggling are continuing to struggle. These views that different Americans have shows how the typical American Way of Life varies from one individual to another, but mostly importantly it proves that there might not be a typical American way of life.
