Is it everything?

I'm not really sure why I am sitting here thinking about this, but it certainly isn't the first time I have really given this topic some thought....the "american dream" as far as it relates to immigrants, legal or illegal. The first time I was really put in a situation where I HAD to think about it was when I was taking my "CUBA AND ITS DIASPORA" class at U of M. We were watching a documentary of different people, each with their own story and dreams and ideas about life in the United States and the documentary followed these people from their escape from Cuba to several years into their life in the USA. Everybody left the island with these ideas of a perfect life, filled with big houses, fancy cars, tons of money (from little work) and complete freedom. Every single person said they were leaving in order to better support their family. Well, years later, the majority of the people were struggling financially and were often disappointed by the dream they didn't acheive. They found that even after working two or three jobs, they could still barely afford the things that they needed let alone have much left over to send to their families back home....some had completely abandoned their families (wives and children) and began new ones. Of course, there's much more to say about the video, but today I find myself thinking about the community around me, which is so saturated with immigrants that sometimes I close my eyes and I can feel like I still am living abroad! Where I work and live especially, I hear more spanish than I do english and part of me just wants to sit down with some of these people and get there stories....hopes and dreams before they left their country, their journeys here and details of their lives now. HOW IS THEIR "AMERICAN DREAM" MEASURING UP????? Sometimes I do get bits and pieces of these stories, and they are always fascinating...you can see the pain when they talk about the struggles and bad times as they fight back tears from memories that are still all to real to ignore, but, you can also watch their face light up as they talk about childhood memories, the taste of fruits and vegetables you cannot find here, the sounds they miss...like heavy rain on a metal roof. At times I think, wow, I should write a book...but then i wonder, who would read it? Ok, I'm sure there's much more to write about but I am still at work and need to focus on tasks here.
With love, alissa