In Dan Rather's essay "They Live the Dream" several stories of living the American Dream are given. The American Dream is different for each person, though, as Rather observes, "You may sense a common thread". As unique each story is, they all go through a journey of hardwork and laborous ups and downs, ending in their own version of success. The common thread shared throughout the essay is that true perserverance and the ability to learn from others and their mistakes and history can eventually get you to your American Dream.
The ability to perservere is key for mantaining your path to success, a common recurrence shown by the interviewed. With Oscar Carlos Acosta, his dream was to suceed in baseball. He ignored everything in his life but the sport, leaving him alone and broke when he tore a vital muscle and was suddenly limited. Though it was the moment in life for him to give up on his dream he still searched for openings for himself and eventually landed himself a place as a coach and got back with his wife and life. The message is, though he did plummet down a steep fall, he was able to climb back up through fresh determination and perserverance.
Learning from others and their mistakes and history can keep one open minded and prepared for whatever hurdles may be thrown their way. For Wayne Ford, he lived a sketchy life at first but was able to come to a new perspective with inspiration from his history class. He saw how he had thought he'd been through rough times but seeing what wars and chaos the world went through gave him a new light. From this he proceeded to politics, ignoring racist remarks and suporting his state to become a better place for others to live in. Through others experiences we can learn how to live our American Dream not just for ourselves but for others as well.
The ability to perservere is key for mantaining your path to success, a common recurrence shown by the interviewed. With Oscar Carlos Acosta, his dream was to suceed in baseball. He ignored everything in his life but the sport, leaving him alone and broke when he tore a vital muscle and was suddenly limited. Though it was the moment in life for him to give up on his dream he still searched for openings for himself and eventually landed himself a place as a coach and got back with his wife and life. The message is, though he did plummet down a steep fall, he was able to climb back up through fresh determination and perserverance.
Learning from others and their mistakes and history can keep one open minded and prepared for whatever hurdles may be thrown their way. For Wayne Ford, he lived a sketchy life at first but was able to come to a new perspective with inspiration from his history class. He saw how he had thought he'd been through rough times but seeing what wars and chaos the world went through gave him a new light. From this he proceeded to politics, ignoring racist remarks and suporting his state to become a better place for others to live in. Through others experiences we can learn how to live our American Dream not just for ourselves but for others as well.