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."
People who aren’t considered Americans but live in America, can also add onto the way Americans are viewed. In many situations you can see that immigrants from other countries shape the life of us(people born here). Such as Mexicans. They take low paying jobs, and some may say that they make it harder for born citizens to get a good paying job. This sort of puts a damper on society for many individuals. If there are bosses and businesses owners out there looking for workers, why wouldn’t they pick the workers who aren’t demanding high pay? Another case are Asians. Most Asians are seen as people who open up their own business, and keep it in the family. This benefits them because they are very educated people, so if they ever wanted to go out and get a job that wasn’t within the family business...they can because there experience and education will help them to fit the requirements.
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 you 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. An aspect to the American way of life that isn’t usually look upon is capitalism. Where would the American way of life stand without capitalism? Face it, even though many people may say that it just destroys America as a whole...the entire selling, buying and competing process is something that Americans live to do. Im not saying that I agree with it, but its just how America is. 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.
During the Christmas vacation, I read an article titled " How Fat People Can Save American Business" by an economic expert named Daniel Gross, and in the article I read many different facts and opinions that caught my attention. A figure that represents America, Uncle Sam, was portrayed as a 97 pounds weakling. The author of this article has strong feelings that this man should have been portrayed as a 297 pound weakling, in order to show that "America's fat problem is a metaphor for our economic troubles: We are too flabby to compete in a cutthroat global economy." (Pg. 1 of the article) This statement was one that made me think deep into what America’s problem really was. Why should fat people always be looked down upon? This is what I thought until I went on reading the article. The author began to go down a different path of thinking, and began to say that instead of seeing America’s high rate of obesity as a problem, we can actually use it as an advantage. "Our head start in chubbiness gives us the chance to dominate the dynamic fat economy," was a statement made by the author. What he is trying to say is that there are many companies and businesses such as weight loss clinics, gyms, health food stores, diet pill purveyors, Liposuction and gastric reduction doctors, personal trainers and weight watcher reality tv shows...where people are making money off of individuals being over weight. The United States creates services such as fitness regimens, health care, making diet plans, and this is a market that the U.S exceeds in better than any other Country. These services can also be exported, such as the weight lose program Curves, which is now in over 28 Countries. This beautifies the American economy, and how it strives to meet demands of many of the citizens.
"Obesity is a condition that can last for a lifetime and hence requires a lot of spending on maintenance, year after year. McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Wal-Mart. Their expansion should not only fatten the pockets of U.S. investors, they should also help fatten the local populations." This shows that as long as there are fat people in America, than many businesses will continue making money, which in the long run will boost the economy because people making money can help stop other economic repercussions.
Overall, the main idea that is trying to be portrayed is that it is known that obesity is bad for ones health and bad for the economy of the nation, but in a way that might not be normally seen... is that it’s good for American innovation and entrepreneurship. It is bringing out the best in the two, which is somewhat bringing out the best in the economy.
