Riches To Rags

I have heard of it, I was in it, I have imagined it, But I am yet to experience it. What is this dream? Who is this dream for? Is it a dream for the wealthy and the powerful? The politicians and the Gangs? The Cartels and the Mafia? Drugs and substance abuse? Is it a dream for organized crime? Murder, Robbery, Rape, Kidnapping, Child molestation, Sabotage, and hopeless? What is this dream? Is it a dream for big cars? Credit card debts? Foreclosed home? And joblessness? Is it a dream for freedom and justice? Inequality and racisms? Or is it a dream for peace, unity, love and compassion? Some people have been dreaming too long, And it’s time to wake up to reality? Everyday hundreds of people are killed in the streets of America, Children are murdered in the schools Businesses are robbed, And illegal schools, and colleges are established on a daily basis, Innocent people get hurt every second And the security system is tainted with bribery and corruption What is this dream? Rags to riches or riches to rag? Aunt Mary is a successful doctor; She left her beautiful home by the beach; She resigned a good paying job; She leaves her husband, and children behind in search of the American dream But she ended up in a rat infested brown stone, apartment in lower Manhattan. She works three jobs, flipping burger and scrubbing floors to make ends meet, And at the end of the month she can barely pay the rent, She cannot eat a proper meal she has to pay it back to the American dream. My ink has been dried up for many years, The weather was perhaps too cold for my ink to flow, I have resorted to the computer but the keys were frozen too. What on earth had gone wrong? I might have been in America too long My creativity was put on hold because I was too busy trying to achieve my dreamless goals Everyday thousands of people from across the globe landed on the shores of America; Thousands of people have lost their lives in sunken boats, and extended journey across desserts some people have spent months travelling from country to country with the hope of reaching America only to be subjected to the materialistic dream. A dream that will one day reduce them to nothing, A dream that will make them work night and day, A dream that will cause them earn their bread the hardest way. Somewhere along the road the real essence of this dream has been destroyed And new meaning has been added to i., What happen to the ideals of America? Where is the success and upward mobility? Where is the fuller, and better life that everyone anticipated? Can we still achieve prosperity and success? Does this dream exist at all? Is it a dream for some? Or is it a dream for all? Open your eyes and recapture the American dream. ©2013 Christine Phillips