The downfall of the American Dream

When it comes to materialism, has any nation ever surpassed what we are seeing in the United States right now? Americans define their lives by how much stuff they have, to a large degree our personal and business relationships are defined by how much money they make, and even most of the important dates on the calendar are all about materialism. Just think about it. They throw outrageous birthday parties for kids and shower them with gifts. Most of "holidays" have become highly materialistic, and the biggest holiday of all in society, Christmas, is an absolute orgy of materialism. They make lists of the "wealthiest Americans" and they glorify their achievements. They spend most of their time either making money or spending it.  Even the phrase "the American Dream" reveals how materialistic US has become. When most people are asked what "the American Dream" is, they start talking about a house, a car, vacations, retirement, sending your kids to college, etc. The American Dream has become all about money and stuff. Sadly, no matter how big the homes are and no matter how many shiny new toys they accumulate, they never seem to be happy. They always want more, and always seem to be willing to go into more debt to get it. They are the most materialistic society in the history of the world, and endless greed is going to end up swallowing them alive.

But just because you have a horse on your property does that make your life better than the rest of our lives? Of course not. Wealth does not equal happiness. Unfortunately, however, most Americans have totally bought into this lie. Most Americans believe that more money equals a better life. They have spent lives chasing after the almighty dollar thinking that it will bring real happiness. Study after study has shown that americans tend to link wealth and happiness. But even though they have an incredibly high standard of living compared to most of the rest of the world, are most of the citizens actually happy? No way. In fact, Americans take more antidepressants than anyone else on the planet. It is really easy to get caught up in materialism though.

It is high time that an average US citizen realizes that their lives should not be about their money and stuff anyway and the material possessions are just temporary. None of them are going to last forever and they don’t accompany the person beyond the grave.