What Is The American Dream?

As a boy I found that I wanted to be a musician, a guitarist or perhaps a keyboardist, but in fact I wanted to be just like John Lennon. I liked his stage presence and voice. As I grew older, I enjoyed the abilities of Lennon and his bandmates, and I dreamed of forming a band. I also enjoyed making up stories and telling them to people; especially to my younger brothers at bedtime. That was the first time I had any inkling of what I would like to be or do with myself when I grew up. But I wasn't really thinking in those terms. It was a boyhood desire to emulate and become something. The choices I made in life prevented the realization of those desires. In high school, I pictured myself becoming an architect or a draftsman (this was before the invention of the PC and Autocad). But what I really enjoyed doing most was writing. One of my teachers, Mr. Good, encouraged me to write more, but I didn't have time to fully invest in myself and more importantly, I lacked the understanding and the  drive to achieve that goal. I had to work part-time after school to help my family. And then there was the attraction of the opposite sex. After high school, I thought I might go to college and become a geologist. My family was poor and there was no way my parents could help me financially. I knew nothing of grants or scholarships. The military draft of that era also came into play. Upon receiving my notice, I went to the Navy recruiter and signed up. The Navy sent me to its electronics and navigation schools. Upon my discharge, I really began for the first time to think of my future. I gave myself three possible career paths to choose from or to fall back upon. I chose to become a musician first, a writer second, and should I fail in the pursuit of those careers, I would become an electronics technician. Although I love music, I did not pursue it properly. Somehow writing became more of a hobby as the practicalities of life forced me to find a means of immediate employment. Life forced my third choice to the fore. I worked for a couple of years in the electronics industry, but was bored to tears. I also smoked a lot of marijuana and, no pun intended, it clouded my ability to rationalize. Partying with my friends was easy, and being single was fun. I met a lovely girl who was intelligent and fun. We got married and settled down. We had our first child, and supporting my young family was paramount. I did not want them to suffer in poverty as I had. I learned to become a land surveyor. The work was interesting and never boring. I did field engineering work on some multi-million dollar projects, but I was never happy. It was just a means to an end. I was able to buy my family a home, fix it up, and maintain a decent lifestyle. I got hurt on the job, and that ended my career in heavy construction. All the time I was working though, I wrote. In 1988 I began working on a story called Private Revolution that was published in 2006. I now consider that story drivel. Eager to be a published writer, but totally ignorant of what was required, I dusted off a story I wrote in 1977 titled Beetle and Lady Bug. It was a love story, but written for children. It was published in 2005 after a Bug's Life had become famous, and children at a book festival compared both stories to one another. Kids are pretty astute. It made me wish I had taken the initiative long before and published that story earlier. I have since written and published or am publishing other works-mainly fiction. I live in a single family home in a great location. But it isn't the house that is the American dream. Yeah, that's a part of the dream, but it is not the entire dream. I danced around life not knowing or understanding what the choice of a career would mean to me. I always wanted to be an artist of some kind and believe I have achieved that goal. It hasn't paid me nearly as well as any of the other jobs I've held; including that of convenience store clerk and hotel desk clerk, but I enjoy it. I just may end up living in a cardboard box, but I have achieved my American dream of becoming a writer. The audience is still out as to how good a writer I am. All my stories are available at amazon.com.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=j.f.+dargon

The Dollar's Future

It wasn't very long ago that the Mexican government revalued its peso. Before that, the dollar exchange was something like 1: 3600; a boon for Americans. The last time I visited our southern neighbors, the exchange was around one dollar to ten and a half pesos. When I was a child, the dollar went much further in its purchasing power than it does now. A single dollar bill could buy a half gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and a pack of cigarettes. Today, you'd be lucky to buy a cup of coffee for one dollar. What does this mean? It means the dollar's worth is far, far less, and has almost no purchasing power. A half gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and a pack of cigarettes can cost upwards of ten dollars or more. When I first started driving, a gallon of gasoline was just 32 cents. Today, it stands at $3.65-some people consider that good today, but is it really? Where did the dollar's power go? Has it abandoned the People of this country? Billions have gone to buying goodwill and peace in the mideast; that is to Egypt and Israel to maintain a peaceful relationship. Billions have gone to the shakedown the Pakistanis have effectively maintained against us in exchange for using their overland roads into Afghanistan to fight their proxies, the Taliban-the Mafia would be so proud. Some of our foreign aid has been used for good purpose. It has fed millions of people, educated other nations' students, and has bribed friends to stand by us when they didn't want to help us invade a sovereign nation for no good reason. A good deal of our hard earned cash has gone to purchase superior weaponry that wasn't up to par, needed tweeking, or was junk before and after it was made for those that must use it. It used to be that the military didn't buy a product unless it proved its worth without cost to the government, but not anymore. The dollar's loss of value can be traced to poorly thought out and executed foreign policy; not to domestic spending. Had the dollar been spent on new American infrastructure built by American workers utilizing American products, the money would have stayed circulating among American citizens enhancing their standard of living. Instead, Americans are expected to drop their standard of living to meet the demands of American companies that have taken American jobs elsewhere to enhance their profits and the bonuses of their chief operating officers. Instead of the world's workers aspiring to our standard, we are expected to lower ours to theirs. The degrading worth of the American dollar will only get worse as long as our Congress continues to bicker and stall for the sake of petty politics. It won't be long before the Federal Reserve recommends its revaluation or worse, demands the floating of the dollar to meet the Chinese  yuan; currently trading inexplicably at 1 U.S. dollar to just 6.36 yuan Renminbi. Other exchange rates point to the dollar's troubling future. How is it that the British pound is worth so much more? Wasn't the British Empire broke after WWII? Where did all their money come from? I believe most of it was from our treasury, but really, how is it that the pound exchanges at a higher rate today at 1 dollar to 1.54 pounds? We lose about a half dollar in purchasing power when we visit England. I can understand the Euro's rise as it is a combination of many nations' wealth, but England is not a wealthy country, and if I understand right, isn't it in debt too? So what is the real worth of the American dollar? Seven dollars and fifty cents less than it was just fifty years ago. In other words, it costs roughly $8.50 to buy the same amount of goods today as $1.00 did fifty years ago. How much more will it degrade? I shudder to think.