The American Illusion

Throughout much of my childhood, one of the largest themes perpetuated in my life was that hard work was directly proportional to success, some call this the Puritan Work Ethic, others the 'American Dream,' but whatever it is called, I have learned through both experience and education, that the situation is much more complex.

As early as Middle School, ideas that contradicted the 'unchallenged' beliefs began to circulate, starting simply with the book 'Flowers For Algernon,' where several sad morals are traced, but the most relevant being that, despite the absolute belief that someone can advance, can they really? The point was strongest to me when the catalyst for the book was explained, the author had been in a class that had a mentally challenged boy who asked to be moved to a regular class if he tried hard to become smart. The sad truth began to work on me, I had to come to the conclusion that, no, he never could really be smart.

One incredibly thoughtful and mind-challenging class that I participated in both my Freshman and Sophomore years was the Gifted Humanities course, whose summer reading selection at one point included the book 'Outliers,' which had the thesis that hard work is not the chief and sole influence on status, but being at the right place at the right time plays a part in anyone's pursuit of happiness. This was an early stage of convincing myself that despite good intentions, the theory that I can achieve anything If I just 'put in the hours' is leading me somewhat astray, as luck could play a larger part of the process as well. Such as, the interesting story of Bill Gates could have been the interesting story of any man, except for the view that Bill Gates had studied computer programming at a time when that study was very profitable, and had just been at the right place at the right time to become a millionaire. This further led me to question