Growing up only knowing the idea of the apple-pie life as a distant thing, I have been told to pursue the American dream, to relentlessly chase my goals all throughout my life; make something of myself as others have not with only an inkling of a concept. As if I was supposed to naturally observe and absorb it from everything that had and would surround me. In seventh grade during a discussion, asking even what the American dream was earned quiet gasps and horrified stares from those who now saw me as something less. Stuttering yet indignant, those surrounding me were trying fruitlessly to explain to me a concept only instilled with me as idealization and never anything concrete. Even after the discussion moved on, a sour taste in my mouth
