The American Success Story

Photo: (Mr. Dickie, Funny sign at a fish farm near Sisters, Oregon)

I just finished reading, "The Healing Power of Stories," by Daniel Taylor. Because I'm interested in story telling I liked the book a lot. I don't remember where I found the book. I bought it in March 2002 for sixty cents. Today I'm going to quote from page 130 of the book.

"The American success story tells us we are to achieve this happiness primarily through four avenues: money, power, prestige, and pleasure. These are the great themes of countless stories paraded before us in novels, films, self-help books, talk shows, television and advertising. You can be richer, stonger, sexier. You can be envied, on top, out front, desired. You can be confident, gratified, in control, calling the shots, in charge. And, it goes without saying, you will be happy."

"Then why aren't we? ..."

"We are unhappy because we are trying to live by a broken story. As attractive as it is in many respects, the American success story simply doesn't tell us the truth. It lies both in suggesting that everyone who works hard enough will have these things and in suggesting that once you have them you will finally be happy. It is a testimony to the human appetite for illusion that this story persists in the face of countless counter-stories from disappointed individuals who have followed these paths and found no contentment."

"A satisfying story is one that is true not only to how the world is on the outside but to how we are inside. It is emotionally and spiritually true. We do not have to divide outselves to live it. We do not have to suppress something we know in our emotions to be true. Such emotional congruence is not a sufficient test by itself, because we know our emotions can support lies, but it is a necessary test. Our spirits will approve our most important stories."

Mr. Dickie