Dreaming Our Way Toward Redemption

In his 1931 book, “The Epic of America,” James Truslow Adams wrote that the American Dream “is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” These words may have been written nearly a century ago, but they’re as relevant and meaningful as ever in my eyes. When I arrived to the United States from Latin America a few years ago to pursue a graduate degree, I became enamored with the American Dream: its celebration of success and achievement, striving and overcoming.

This view is one that not everyone shares, of course. America is certainly a country with flaws. We have not always lived up to our ideals. We are a fallible people. But what the American Dream gives us is perhaps the ultimate redemption arc.

Many treat the Dream as a static, unfulfilled promise that makes the country irredeemable. But it represents anything but stasis: At its very core, it is about moving forward, striving onward and upward. From the immigrant able to give a better life to her kids, to the entrepreneur coming up with the next unicorn company, to the community organizer seeing a better future for others by fighting for a broader array of civil rights, there are countless stories of the American Dream achieved. Every day, there are millions of us working to surmount hurdles—both personal hurdles and those erected by the sins of our collective past. And thanks to the American Dream, we have the opportunity to jump over these barriers and clear them for future generations. What could be more redemptive than that?

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