This week we watched “Waging a Living”, a film that followed various Americans’ lives and their struggle to provide for their families with only minimum wages.  Firstly, it should be established that earning minimum wage isn’t “making a living” because there is no way one person could make enough to pay for rent, health insurance, gas, utility bills, groceries, and other expenses.  People don’t live on minimum wage—they exist. 

            After our class on Thursday, I was a little aggravated by other people’s comments on the film.  That being said, I am glad that we all have different opinions because it starts the conversation and creates ideas.    The question that challenged me was about the American dream and if we are owed or if we deserve everything it encompasses.  In class, we pretty much summed the American Dream up to be the ability (or the idea of the ability) to be able to work hard and move up and out of your social class and to have all the benefits that come with that class.  The fact that our country was more or less founded on this dream is the primary reason we deserve to have it and, YES, we are owed to live comfortable lives with our hard work. 

            “Waging a Living” proved that it’s impossible to live comfortably, without excessive worry, on minimum wage.  All of the interviewees worked full-time to support their children.  One woman was a divorcee, had two children, worked as a waitress (something like $2.75/hour plus tips), and was $15,000+ in debt.  Another woman had multiple children, worked in a girls home, and attended community college part-time.  She lived on her wages, Medicaid, and food stamps—at least that was until she got a $3 raise and magically made too much to qualify.  Her state housing rent also went up in price.  She called it “hustling backwards” because the more she made, the more she stayed behind, stayed stagnant.  Making more money meant she would be spending more money (no health care meant she had to spend $175 on her son’s allergy medication and choose some other necessity not to pay).  Her situation was so dire that she couldn’t even buy her family a Christmas dinner. One man, Jerry, barely made enough to eat and pay rent and only after ten years was he able to afford a plane ticket to see his children. The financial situations of the other film participants were similar to each other: good people working hard, long hours, but staying socially stagnant.   

            So, the answer is definitely, unequivocally “yes”.  We do deserve the American Dream.  We shouldn’t have to “rethink” the American Dream.  We need to find ways to make it possible.  As human beings, we deserve dignity and comfort.  We deserve to have enough money to take a vacation or to visit family.  We deserve to be able to buy food for the holidays.  We deserve to have easy transportation to and from work (having a car shouldn’t feel like a necessity).  We deserve to pamper ourselves and to indulge.  The question, “What are we really owed?” bothered me for this reason: if we don’t have these pleasures, abilities we are merely existing and if we’re just existing, we lose the beauty of being human.
           With respect to our service learning at IHAD, I truly do believe that our dreamers deserve to live out of poverty, that their parents deserve to work hard and not feel like they're hustling backwards.  There are so many factors that come with poverty, near-poverty that contribute to academic failure and to social class stagnation.  Parents may not be as involved in children's lives if they have to work constantly to make ends meet or they may cope with stress in unhealthy ways (overeating, drugs, alcohol, abuse) or they are involved in their children's lives and their economic anxieties transfer to their children (growing up too fast).  The emotional stress that comes with economic struggle can affect young people's mentality and confidence, too.  They may question their value to society and their own ability to make a difference in their lives ("I see how hard my mom works and how it gets her no where.  Why should I try?")  It’s so important to instill confidence in these kids, so that they know what they’re capable of achieving.  They deserve to have dignity and pride.  And for the people who say it doesn’t matter if these kids ever go to college and make something of themselves and think of the economic improvement the nation will see if more people can fill more job positions.  Think of how our nation could improve with better-educated people and how our nation could compete with other nations.  A more socialist capitalist (oxymoron?) society could achieve this.  Also, an improvement in secondary public education would make a huge difference.  What would also make a major change is educating the majority of people on the discrimination and social inequities that minorities face every day.  Educating people that these social inequities are ingrained in our national fabric is the first way to tackle this task.

         All of this being said, I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want a more socialist, educated society (socialism doesn’t mean communism or less capitalism).  Why would anyone want to deny another human being the right to live a comfortable life? A life of dignity and value?  I will admit that I’m privileged in these ideas because I’m educated and economically comfortable.  I have access to these ideas and access to the discussion of these ideas.  More people need access to these ideas, so that upward social mobility is possible.