WITH JORDANNA THIGPEN

Photo(s) by Luke Thomas

The American Dream

By Jordanna Thigpen

June 30, 2006

It's easy right now to be outraged about the state of our nation. Every day, multiple acute incidents and chronic suffering suggests our collective failure as a society. This Fourth of July, reflection on our best qualities can help us remember the American dream.

In the administrative offices of the San Francisco Superior Court there is a replica of the original Betsy Ross Stars and Stripes. Walking by it yesterday, I was struck by the significance of the circle of 13 stars: a unified collective. That seems to be the very essence of the evolving American dream.

But what is the American dream? Is it a dark, Boschian nightmare from which we can't escape? Is it animated, or in black and white? Right now, it is like the vague and slippery memory of a dream that you have upon first awakening.

Let's celebrate America's innovation. We're innovative because we have to be. For the vast majority of us, whether in this generation or before, no one gave us anything: we had to design and build and think for ourselves. In the marketplace of ideas, we're the latchkey kid who goes home after school to "build stuff," working focused and alone, forgetting to eat dinner.

Our inventions have transformed the world as a result.

Let's celebrate America's motivation. Growing up hard has sharpened and toughed our collective spirit. We want to make our cities the best in the world, and we are trying so hard. We are hungry for success.

It's the secret to our prosperity.

America is industrious in every sense of the word. Chemicals, steel, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, high tech…our nation has been built and prospered because of these industries. Say what you will about some of them, but they have ensured infrastructure, education, and employment.

The most successful have had strong rank-and-file union membership.

And finally, let's celebrate that America as the land of choice. Our freedom here is the gossamer threads of our own Indra's Web. Our civil liberties may currently be at stake, but our freedom is unparalleled anywhere in the world.

The dream of America is a living spirit in each of us. It is the dream of equality. It is the dream of respect and dignity for all people. It is the dream of not just tolerance, but acceptance, and yet love. It is the dream of living in peace.

This Fourth of July, can we take a collective step forward? Can we commit to realizing our potential as a nation? Can we remember why we came to exist as a nation in the first place? It can be our highest duty, and our joyous burden, to manifest and celebrate the dream.

District 6 resident Jordanna Thigpen is an attorney, small business owner and President of the San Francisco Small Business Commission. You can usually find her at work and she doesn't get to Ocean Beach often enough. Email Jordanna at jgthigpen@gmail.com.