Living the American Dream

We will launch a new special section soon in the Sun Tribune under the headline: Living the American Dream. It will bring business people into focus.

Americans today call whatever their dream is the American Dream. For some it’s a high school diploma or a college degree. For others it’s a 9-5 job, weekends off and a paid four-week vacation. And for yet others, it’s a Ferrari.

We will deal with the American Dream as it was understood back during the founding of the country and for decades afterward. It’s a saying that was born of the concept of freedom that assured the opportunity for prosperity and success.

The original American Dream was about private ownership of property and the means of supporting oneself, whether a farm, a store or a shop. Most who worked for business owners had the same dream and went after it by saving from their wages to be able to invest.

The reason I’ve wanted to write about the entrepreneurs is that I consider them the backbone of America. God gave them the ability to work successfully with money and other forms of capital just like he gave some of us the ability to write, play soccer or farm.

We will feature not only U.S.-born business people but also Mexicans and Central and South Americans who are living off their ingenuity, their God-given talents and their freedom.

Some would argue that business people are not the backbone. Well, consider this: They are the people we go to for jobs. They are the people we ask first to sponsor community and athletic events. They are the ones we ask first for help during a community tragedy. Some times we ask them to invest in ideas for a business of our own.

Business people can teach us the discipline, the frugality and the work it takes to attain our own dreams. In that I’d like you, the readers, to help. If you know business people from whom we could and should learn, send me those names.

Another aspect of this section that will make it special is that each story will be written in Spanish as well as English. The two versions will appear side by side in the paper.

The most important goal of this bilingual concept is learning. We hope the Spanish-only members of the South County community will take advantage of these stories to practice their English at least once a week. They’ll be able to refer back and forth as they work their way through the English version.

It is important that the Spanish-only residents learn English. The American Dream will come more quickly. And English will make all aspects of their lives in this country easier. It is our desire to help them learn it.

And as these people learn English, they’ll also be learning about the American Dream from people who have achieved or are achieving it.

If, along the way, members of the English-speaking population of South County learn a little Spanish, well, so much the better.

Look for it soon in the Sun Tribune: Living the American Dream.