Mariel's+Reflections

__Wall on Change__ Change in America is always secondary, and never fundamental. Fundamental change is when a revolution occurs; mores are altered, beliefs are transformed, and what was once accepted as right and true, is now regarded as wrong and false. Secondary change is on the surface; mores and beliefs remain the same, but actions change based on shallow epiphanies. As Americans, we can’t bring ourselves to change our mores, because that would disrupt our accepted way of life, and ultimately jeopardize our comfort. Most Americans are comfortable, and are therefore not inclined to produce fundamental change. That is why Americans spend their time cultivating secondary change. Secondary change won’t challenge comfort, but it will alter society just enough, to calm the people calling for change.
 * Reflections **

__Wall on the American Other__ The Other in America is overlooked, pushed away, and castigated. There are more “other’s” in America aside from Muslim’s or the LGBTQ community, such as the homeless, the disabled, the overweight, the immigrants, the poor, the people affected by the drug war, and more. Americans are unwilling to accept people that fall into these categories, because they don’t fit the suffocating norm of society. We frown upon these people. For these "other's" in America, the sunshine does not shine upon them. Ignorance, unwillingness, and fear causes Americans to perpetuate the process of condemning these American-proclaimed outcasts. Americans do not take the opportunity to understand the "other's" in society, and continue to hide in their own bubble of isolation. Because of American’s unwillingness to reach out and accept the “other’s” in society, “other’s” in America will continue to be condemned, disrespected, and misunderstood.

__Dreaming in America__ Dreaming in America means to have a fantasy that you strive for, and to romanticize that fantasy throughout your life until it reaches a point where it is no longer attainable. Americans piece together all aspects of life we want to be perfect; perfect house, perfect family, perfect job, perfect car, perfect friends into one desire. The American dreamer’s dream never blooms into reality, because what the dreamer yearns for is never what will actually fulfill us. We think it will, because it is what we have been searching for since the dream manifested. But in reality, the dream is one big illusion that misleads the American dreamer to misery. Americans today think that a lot of fancy material goods make happiness, so we dream for it. If we are able to get the big house with the fancy car and the gaudy chandeliers, we will find that even though we “reached” our dream, we are not actually satisfied. That is because the Americans’ dreams are constantly added to, romanticized, so when we think we have reached our dream, we have only reached part of it. But, the belief in the dream is so powerful, that no one wants to give up on it, like Senator John Kerry, Bruce Springsteen, or Jay Gatsby. Because the economy is in shambles currently, many believe that the American Dream is dead. However, the American Dream will never die, as long as Americans keep fantasizing about what they desire.

__Race in America__ Being Black in America means you are a problem, but at times a celebrated problem. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote, “How does it feel to be a problem?”(//The Souls of Black Folk// Du Bois 7) many years ago, and because of America’s inability to create fundamental change, his words still hold true. Blacks in America today are segregated, discriminated, targeted with hostility, and receive very few opportunities. In American literature, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Sam Cooke described this. However, because of America’s ability to allow secondary change, the black in America has transformed into a well-spoken, well-educated, successful, and respected citizen. President Obama is the living proof that Black people are valuable, brilliant, and opportune people. Being black in America is a contradiction. This is because what a Black person in America is, falls on both ends of a radical spectrum. The unfortunate truth is that there are more blacks that fall on the wrong end of the spectrum, the side of poverty and violence, than on the right end, the side of success and opportunity.

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