Why I’m very passionate about the American Dream

As someone who was born and raised in a society that has been deemed “third world,” and “uncivilized,” I am fascinated by stories that research and explore the intricacies of life and our society.

 My existing body of work, as a writer and storyteller, consists of stories that delve into the idea of how people relate to the society in which they find themselves. I enjoy telling stories that always question the idea of nature vs. nature.

Does our society around us dictates the outcomes of our lives, or are our lives destined to be a certain way since the day we were born? What set of life circumstances impact people to act the way they do, or are humans predestined for a future not of their making?

These are questions I ask myself when writing a story, interviewing a subject or conducting research.

My upbringing in a third world country has allowed me to view the world as not just black and white, but to also take into consideration the many gray areas involved.

I believe as journalist; it is our duty to always look at the “big picture” of every story that we are trying to communicate. Seeing the big picture allows us to be able to gather as much information as possible to be able to tell a complete story.

Before I joined the military, I had been living with the idea that everyone experiences the American dream, so I didn’t really give much thought to it.

Back home in Sierra Leone, the “American dream,” was advertised to me as the ideal way of life. Something to aspire to, something to desire and something to look forward to.

As Africans, every one of us wanted our piece of the dream. We wanted to live the life of peace, prosperity and wealth. We wanted the dream that was sold to us. So, when I came to America at age 15, I still followed this perspective and ignored everything else.

From an immigrant’s viewpoint, it was easy to look at the imperfections of the American Dream and ignore them because, after all, I made it to America. I made it to the one country that everyone desires to be in.

However, listening to stories from my military buddies made me realize that not everyone is experiencing the dream.

Living in the U.S. as an immigrant, I have come to realize that for a lot of natural-born Americans, the idea of the American dream is not the reality they are living.

 Take for example, my former supervisor, Gregory. He was a proud, talented, and hardworking man who felt he had been dealt a bad hand in life. He was on his way to achieving his American Dream when according to him, the American system failed him.

At work, Gregory was disrespected by his superiors and subordinates because they saw him as a pushover. At home, he claimed he was pushed around by a wife who saw him as a failure.

However, Gregory did not see himself as a failure, but as someone going through the daily misfortunes of life. He has aspirations of becoming a writer; but for now, he has resigned his fate to be a disrespected cook and husband.

Another story is of Mary, a previous coworker. Mary is a sweet woman with ADHD who went to cooking school with a dream of one day opening her own restaurant.

However, because of her ADHD, Mary was always treated with less respect. From bosses to coworkers, she was treated like less of a human by everyone.

Though her work life was disastrous, her home life was peaceful and beautiful because of her husband and her sweet daughter, Molly.

Like Gregory, Mary has resigned herself to being a mistreated cook because she doesn’t believe she will ever be respected enough to own her own restaurant. She has given up on her American dream.

I have been inspired by the podcast “Ear Hustle” and by Comedian Trevor Noah’s book, “Born a Crime,” because of the way I view the world. Both media expertly tell stories of people abandoned by their respective societies because they are deemed not important.

“Ear Hustle” is a podcast that re-counts riveting tales about the lives of people society believe unredeemable. “Born a crime” narrates a story of a man who was born into a society that considered him less than human. I am inspired by such stories because they navigate the complexities and parallels of humans and the societies in which we find ourselves.

I am pursuing journalism and specifically literary reportage because it will give me the opportunity to research the idea of the American Dream in-depth, while being able to tell the stories of many Americans living the reality of the purported dream.

I believe everyone has a story to tell. But unless they are a person that society deems important, their stories will go unheard.

I want to use literary reportage to give voices to the voiceless and tell the stories of everyday Americans.