“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” |Maya Angelou

I’ve noticed an interesting paradox in the past few years. On one hand, media commentators, researchers, and historians tell us the American Dream is dead. Some even go so far as to say it has become a nightmare, a mirage of materialism promising the false hope of personal fulfillment to everyone when in reality it only delivers to a few privileged powerbrokers. Most of these naysayers claim our country has already peaked as a world leader and is now in decline.

When our country was founded, however, the United States served as a land of opportunity, an untamed wilderness offering a better life than the lingering social caste system of feudal European countries, such as England and France, could provide. If people were willing to brave the voyage to America, risk facing its dangers and uncertainties, and work hard, then a better life potentially awaited them. The Declaration of Independence promised that “all men are created equal” with the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Consequently, our great nation became the proverbial melting pot of various ethnicities and cultures, races and tribes. Even today in the 21st century, thousands of people enter the U.S. each year, and immigration—who and how many to allow into our country—remains a controversial issue.

Yet many people insist the American Dream has died somewhere over the course of the past two-hundred-plus years, that cultural cynicism has replaced the optimism upon which our country was built. But here’s the paradox: if the American Dream is dead, then why do so many people still yearn to enter our borders any way possible as they seek a better, fuller, more exciting, and satisfying life? Why do so many people seem determined to chase success and keep their dreams alive?

Everyone wants to be a winner, a success, a person who makes the most of their God-given talents, abilities, and opportunities to improve their own life and the lives of others.