The Best of All Possible Worlds is the Real American Dream (But it is Still Only a Dream)

Among the things
we like to say
but maybe don't
really believe
is that the
American experiment
believes that
the best of all
possible worlds
is on our own soil.

I'm not saying that
we are, but
that we have built
ourselves the best
potential to obtain it.

But like all dreams,
it takes more than
thinking it up
and agreeing on it
to make it real;
it's a constant
process, one we're
hardly aware we're
working on, especially
when anyone calls
our current state
into question. Those
are the times we
say it most but believe
it least, when we think
it's all we can do
to keep what we have,
or at least had, because
it sounds good, more
real, easier than
what we dream.

The American Dream
is our greatest
contribution to the world,
our belief that
the best of all possible worlds
is possible, not just for some
but for all, and it begins
here and it ends there,
right around the world.
We confuse it for a sense
of self-reliance, that
success is possible
for those who strive for it,
but that's the old model
we're breaking, the first
steps, when it's no longer
acceptable to merely
suggest only some can succeed,
but that it's our right
in the form of human
community for everyone
to be everything
they want to be.

It's saying that we
don't need to be told
what to do, because
we believe that some day,
maturity won't just
be something you're
expected to have,
but something
to be understood.

Even the schools
will help you find it.

But it is called
a Dream for a reason,
because it is
a vision quest
we are all on,
from here to there.