Representing Culture
With each new generation, the lives of Americans gets busier and busier. In looking at the "typical American lifestyles" of today, one would hardly believe that we were once a culture focused on flexible principles and quite self-indulgent. Advancement in manufacturing processes and technology drove us to desire more than relaxation and luxury. We came to equate our time and efforts with money and luxury, and eventually discarded the simple pleasures in life in order to gain more time. So it happened, that the American Dream became less about freedom, leisure, and privilege and more about making money and maximizing time.
Simply, people are on the go, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We Americans have set an overwhelming pace for ourselves and essentially neglected to enjoy our lives and experience the freedom that we fought so hard for. Everyone is always busy and hustling from one store to the next. There are always cars on the streets and sitting at traffic lights. The country is loaded with superstores and chains focused on efficiency and convenience to the customer. In a society ruled by the principles of competition and productivity, Americans mistakenly apply more value to the state of our economy than to the overall health of ourselves. Rather than take a few extra minutes to peruse a small store or to engage in a friendly conversation with a fellow shopper, we bustle about and rush from one place to the next. Essentially, the American Dream is quickly becoming a nightmare. If we continue to live at such a fast pace and to ignore our personal needs, our society will disintegrate and nothing will be gained from our sacrifices.