Perception v. Reality
--> In many minds, the American Dream seems to be fading. The nation and its leaders seem to have lost the will to make corrections to broken concepts or come up with innovations to take the nation forward. There seems to be a lot of fighting, both political and social, on topics that seem to have a clear impact on our way of life. These battles force us to confront the promise and the reality of the American Dream. Can there truly be a century or centuries of unmatched personal gain and happiness? Is the dream promised to all Americans, or is this dream available to a select few? It also forces us to confront the realities of what it means to be American, is there a collective American mindset, and is there a collective or individualistic set of American goals? The current climate reveals stressors that should be reduced and solved. Great men and women still live in America. There remains a can-do sense of things. Yet, those activists are no longer in the public