by Vicki Phipps

Created on: October 12, 2008

As Americans come face to face with the financial demise of our greed and need to achieve the American dream, we must first remember the past facts. Our forefathers survived much harder times than these, believe me, so we should first refuse to panic. Fear tends to spread doom, gloom and dread, but with history's tips, we can survive anything and even our own greed, if we choose to see and believe the fact that we've been overly spending and overly lending to the point of excessively believing, "It's all about me and my American dream."

*UNITED WE STAND AND DIVIDED WE ALL FALL:

Today I see more clearly it's not all about me and my own American dream, but I need to think of my entire country when I choose to forget the fact that we are running out of the American resource we need to produce the gas we waste every day by driving huge gas guzzling SUV's aimlessly through our American streets. That's why my new American dream will be more economically, fuel saving. I might even choose to walk sometimes, instead of starting up my new pint size car just to go down the road. That way, I can still say that I'm free to go where I want to go, as long as I know how to freely go, economically.

If we all cooperate the way Americans did in the old days, we might begin to appreciate what they sacrificed for us to live and breathe freely today. They worked hard and earned the homes they owned, not through credit, but through blood, sweat and tears which took years. There was no such thing as immediate gratification in the old days, but the American way was to sacrifice the need to achieve immediate, "things," and the time it takes to save.

* DON'T BE AFRAID IN THE LAND OF THE BRAVE:

We don't need to be so afraid of societies far away, because you see, it's us we need to be afraid of. Roosevelt tod us long ago that the only thing we need to fear is fear itself. When we face our fears, the monsters we create won't bite our behinds all the time, and we might even find that other societies won't hate our guts so much. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that we'd all be less afraid of terrorists attacks if we finally deal with the fact that we are running out of gas. We'll never change Arabian ways, but we can change our American way.

Americans are brave when they are willing to do what it takes to keep the American dream alive by sacrifice and serving the nation through an unselfish view. As JFK wisely advised, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for

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