Chasing the American Dream: Emily's Real Journey

Apr. 28th, 2025

Emily Martin was born in a small town on the outskirts of Missouri. Her father had been a factory worker at an auto parts plant, but when she was fifteen, the factory closed and moved away. Her mother worked several part-time nursing jobs just to keep the family afloat. Life wasn’t destitute, but every bill felt like a new weight to carry.

From a young age, Emily understood that to change her fate, she would have to rely on herself.

She was a good student, but the school in her small town lacked resources. Many classes were without teachers, and the library had outdated computers. Despite these limitations, she spent every afternoon after school in the library, learning from free online courses on a worn-out laptop.

When she graduated high school, she earned a partial scholarship to a state university. The remaining tuition and living expenses would be covered by student loans and part-time jobs.

Thus, for four years in college, Emily worked as a cashier at a fast food restaurant during the day, tutored students at night, and took on odd weekend jobs. Each month, she anxiously awaited her paycheck, hoping it would stretch far enough to cover her bills.

College life was far from glamorous.

Emily majored in computer science, but her first programming exams were a struggle. She realized that, compared to students with parents who were engineers or tech-savvy, she was starting far behind. The professor’s terminology often sounded like a foreign language, and her project assignments were only completed after sleepless nights. Exhausted, she thought about giving up and considered transferring to a cheaper community college.

But every time she called home, her mother’s tired but encouraging voice reminded her to keep going. Emily found the strength to persist.

Four years later, she graduated with a $20,000 student loan debt. Finding a job was harder than she had imagined. Dozens of resumes sent out went unanswered. Even when she did get an interview, she was often asked, “Do you have any real project experience?” — something she didn’t have in college.

After months of frustration and setbacks, Emily finally landed an entry-level position as a software developer at a mid-sized software company. The pay was modest, but enough to start paying off her loans and support herself. However, entering the workforce was just as difficult as she expected. The competitive environment was harsh, and relationships and connections often seemed to matter more than hard work.

During one major project, Emily made a mistake that caused significant pressure for her department, and her boss openly criticized her. That night, she sat on the steps outside her apartment and cried for a long time.

But the next morning, she still showed up on time and kept working, revising her code.

Over the years, Emily gained experience and slowly earned recognition from her colleagues. She switched jobs a few times, her income gradually increased, but life still wasn’t easy. She could occasionally go on a vacation and put some money aside for emergencies, but she was still far from comfortable.

She also began to realize that the American Dream wasn’t about the simple narrative of “work hard, and you’ll succeed.” Opportunities were not always distributed equally. Starting points matter — some people are driving cars while others are walking, and even with relentless effort, circumstances like luck, health, and the economy can derail a person’s progress.

But she still believed that effort was essential, even if it didn’t always lead to immediate rewards. More importantly, through her journey, she had gained the freedom to choose her lifestyle, and that, in itself, was a victory.

One day, she returned to her small town and saw that the streets she once knew were now deteriorating. Many people her age had settled down early, got married, or stayed behind working low-wage jobs. Some of them envied her courage to leave, but Emily knew that the path she had taken hadn’t been easy. Every step had come with a price.

The American Dream, she realized, wasn’t about miraculous success.

But for people like Emily, its real meaning was in the choice to strive, to try, and to persist, even when the world isn’t perfect.

In the city’s night lights, she continues her journey — not for the perfect success, but for the right and the courage to keep moving forward.