The American Recipe

Well, you may have noticed that my last few blog posts have generally been about the American Dream. Well guess that this one is about! Now that we have a pretty good idea on what the American Dream is, lets make a recipe!

Ingredients needed:

• 1/2 cup of belief
• Everyone needs to believe in themselves before they can accomplish anything
• 3 cups of family
• Who stands by you no matter what you situation is? Your family. The basis for any American Dream is the people who love you.
• A dash of luck
• Lets face it, luck dictates your life. While you can do things to tip luck more into your favor, we all need a little bit of it.
• 5 large, gigantic cups of hard-work
• As we all know, hard-work is what gets you what you want. Want to get an A in a class, study like you've never studied before. Want to buy a new car, I hope you have a job because you will need to save money like you've never saved before.
• 3 Dedication
• Every road has a pothole. It is your goal to overcome those potholes and continue on you journey to achieve the American Dream.

Steps:

1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Stir until all ingredients are fully mixed
3. Heat in your oven at 350 degrees for approximately 12 minutes
4. Let it cool down a bit
5. Enjoy your American Dream.

Obama 2012

"And Obama is the projected winner of the 2012 presidential election." It was finally over. After months of presidential debates and commercials, it was finally over. CNN, Fox, and countless other news broadcasters announced the projection that the president would be re-elected. After running a tough campaign, Obama was able to outlast Romney in many of the swing states and win 303 electoral votes to Romney's 203.

I have never been a big political guy. I saw the horror that was George Bush, and the false hope that was Obama's first term. But I believe that if anyone can bring this country to the right track it's Obama. Right now I am 16 years old, so I couldn't vote. So I decided to stay away from the politics. Watch what was going on, but don't get into political debates with your friends.

I tried to understand the basics of what both Romney and Obama were saying, and I did have a favorite, but whenever my friend brought the presidential race up at lunch, I just shrugged my shoulder and said they both suck. In four years, guess who gets to vote, this guy right here. But you can trust me that in four years when my opinion may or may not count, I will do my research and vote for who I believe will be the better president.

Where would I like to be in 20 years?

Somedays I like to just sit and think. Think about what grade I will probably get in Math or who is going to win the Superbowl this year. I even go as far as to think of my future. When I do think of my future I think of my life style. I want to be able to live in a nice suburban home, be able to pay all my bills, and always have the newest gaming console. In my last post I wrote about my American Dreams. I wrote that I wants to be a computer programmer and guess what, even after 4 days, I still want to be a computer programmer.

Now I can only hope that I get so good at it that I make my own operating system and become the next Bill Gates. But the odds of that happening are very slim, there but slim. So I can only assume that I would be part of the middle class and not the top 1%. And thus I probably won't be able to afford a Lamborghini or Ferrari.

20 years from now I would like to be able to provide my family with a life that would be a stress-free as possible. I want to give my children the life my dad was able to give me. I want to walk up in the morning looking forward to my job, and come home in the evening with the same eagerness. That is where I would like to be in 20 years. How about you?

My American Dreams

Continuing with the American Dream topic, I am going to tell you what my dreams were and are. When I was young, I always thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Generally I wanted to be the guy operating those cool machines at construction sites. Then I decided that snow plow drivers would be super cool because they don't work until snow fell onto the ground. But then I grew up and decided to be serious about my future. My parents obviously wanted me to become a doctor because well, they are Indian, and at first that was what I wanted to be too.

Two summers ago I was introduced to the world of computer science. I began to watch videos which were related to computer program and after getting a solid background about the HTML computer language, I was able to make a small website. While it may not be perfect, I was proud of what I was able to develop. That was when I decided I wanted to major in Computer Science. I knew that it isn't an extremely high paying job, unless of course you make Facebook or something like that, so I had to make new goals.

My American Dream was to be wealthy. Ever since I could remember I would always talk about what I would get with my money. A lamborghini? A mansion? The sky was the limit. But now that I want to be a computer programer, I might want to bring my goals down to earth. I know some of my dad's friends who were computer programmers and lived a pretty good lifestyle. Two-story house, flat screen televisions, two nice cars, everything that I would want to have in my house. This became my new American Dream.

The American Dream is always changing. It is never static. As you grow older and become wiser, you really what you really want from your life. You can go from wanting to be a billionaire to wanting to help people around the world. It is your choice, your life. You decide how you want to live it.

American Dream Follow-Up

Now in my last post I told you guys how the American Dream is different from person to person and how the perception of the American Dream can be very misleading. Click here for that blog. Today I am going to tell you all a story (because who doesn't like stories). There once lived a man in India. Oh yeah, by the way this man is my dad. Well after living his whole life in a low income family, he was able to go to a college in India named Alighar University. There he got his PHD in chemistry.

After marrying my mom, he moved to England for a low paying chemist job and to finish his education. After living in England for one and a half years, almost two, he moved to Birmingham, Alabama. He worked as an assistant to one of the professors in UAB. He lived in an old campus apartment and with the money he was able to save he bought his first car. It wasn't anything flashy, just an old beaten down Nissan. After living in Alabama for nine years, he received a job offer from a relatively big medicine company called Eli Lilly. By this time both me and my sister were born.

This picture was taken approximately 5 years ago. Me and my
dad playing some basketball.

So we all moved to Indiana. This time we lived in a bigger town house in Plainfield  Indiana. Still my dad believed he could do more. He believed that he could put my sister and I in a better position for both our social and educational lives. Then after a year he got a even better job offer for a chemical company out in Boston, Massachusetts called Arqule. There he traded in his old Nissan and bought two new cars, a 2001 Corolla and a 2001 Sienna, both made by Toyota. But after only another year passing we moved back to Indiana because he got an even better offer back in Eli Lilly. This time, my dad and mom decided that Carmel, Indiana (click here to see top 100 cities to live in) would be a better place for my sister and I to grow up. At first we lived in a townhouse but after one year my dad decided to buy his own house. Soon we moved in. Our house is a two story house with a yard (kinda like the stereotype).

We have now lived in this house for over nine years. My dad set a goal for himself, to put my sister and I in the best position possible, and I believe he has achieved that and much more. 

The American Dream

What do most Americans and immigrants expect to receive in return of their hard work in America? A good house? Wealth? The perception of the American dream can be very deceiving. The typical, mainstream image of the American dream is generally a family with two kids, a small 2 story house, and a yard with a white picket fence. This image, which social media drills into our minds, causes many people to set their goal in life to achieve this and only this. If you don't achieve this particular image, you are not seen to be living the "American dream." But is reality, the American dream varies from person to person, and from situation to situation.

Do you believe that Bill Gates, now, would want to live in a small two story house? I doubt it. But he has still achieved the American dream of thousands of people: wealth. However, while wealth is the American dream of one person, doesn't mean that it is the American dream of everyone. Another person's American dream might be raising a loving family or getting a college degree or developing a video game.

People will set goals in their lives. At one time in their life, they might want to buy a house and at another time, a car. The problem with the misconception of the American dream is that people may set the bar too high or too low. Not everyone can have a two-story house with a white picket fences. Not everyone is going to become wealthy. That does not meant they have failed in America or that they are not leading happy lives. Just as everyone's fingerprints are unique, everyone's American dream is too.

Now everyone reading this post, take a step back and ask yourself, what does that American dream mean to you and to what lengths will you go to achieve it?

If you need a better idea of what the American dream is and its history you can click the link below. It will open a new window.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-american-dream.htm

Hey Guys

Hey!
Welcome to what I hope will be a magical journey. Just kidding. My name is Zaid and I am a junior in high school. During the next few weeks I will be posting posts about my different subjects based on the assignment given by my teacher. My next post will be about the American Dream and how it differs from person to person. It should be posted by the weekend.

Until next time.