The American Dream
At my commencement the keynote speaker spoke about the American dream, and he said that in order to make it a reality you must be willing to work…
Some of you may know my story, but I love telling stories so I will continue to tell it with additional details. While there are many people who have college degrees and some who have received theirs recently like me, I do not think many people have taken the route I choose to get to there. It is said that Millennials have characteristics such as entitlement, being lazy, coddled, and materialistic. While I have seen people from my generation who are like this, I have not been raised to be like any of those things. My father worked hard to put himself through college and worked even harder to earn his master’s degree. While he has been able to enjoy the fruits of his labor now, it has taken years of hard work and conservative saving to get there (even now he would not say he has “made it”). When it was time for me to embark on my college journey, the government informed me the amount of money my father and mother could contribute to my college education, an amount that was laughable. Never did it cross my mind to be upset at my parents for not “doing more”. They did plenty to get where they are today and it was time for me to do my part.


