The American Dream

It's been 7 months since my last blog and that is mostly thanks to the wonder, that I finally got a job. I am now the absolutely underpaid, overworked Development Director of a wonderful non-profit here in DC. It's dysfunctional, hectic, chaotic and absolutely fantastic but more about this later in another blog. Yesterday something happened, which got me back to the keyboard. For almost 1 month I have been in charge of my organizations move into a new Office space. The office being a basement, needed full renovation and so we have had contractors in and out for what feels like my entire life. The past week I have been full time in the Office working alongside one of the teams and have gotten to know one of the guys by the name of Carlos. He casually told me 2 days ago that his son had the flu, when we talked about the weather. Next day when we came to work, I asked him how his son was doing, expecting a casual reply back. The answer that came left me speechless. Carlos said "Well, my son is doing better, but last night mu neighbor got shot". I am standing there, not sure I heard him correctly, so I had him repeat and sure enough, the night before a 19 year old kid was out doing his job for a pizza chain delivering flyer's, when someone tried to rob him. The kid didn't want to give up his money and tried to run, so the robbers shot him in the back and killed him. Now this story in its own right, is so incredibly sad but here is what makes it even worse. Carlos looks at me and says "My son used to go to school with the kid who got shot. The kid dropped out of high school because he got his girlfriend pregnant, so he was out working to support his family. I remember the day he was born, I was there. I was actually his godfather". At that point he was almost in tears and I had nothing to add to the story, just stood there. Then Carlos turned around and started talking about the new door locks he had brought for me from Home Depot and that was it, we didn't mention it again, but it has got me thinking. Carlos came from El Salvador with his family 30 years ago. He works today as a plummer and electrician as a day-worker meaning, if his boss doesn't get work, he doesn't get paid. Every day it's day-to-day, no security, no social benefits, no health insurance etc. So for Carlos the American dream would be to see his kid do well. Do better than him, but how does that work when he himself is still so low on the social ladder? It seems to me the American Dream is just an expression with no link to the bottom of the social chain. Even if you do work hard, do everything you can, once you're at the bottom, you stay there. So this blog is for the kid, for Carlos and for the hope that the American Dream actually is still alive and that change will come to the hardworking people who get up everyday, trying to make a difference in their life and to the hope that Carlos' son might one day make it 1 step up the ladder for a better future.