I found this image on the internet, while reading up on some song lyrics. While many people world-wide try to isolate their cultures from external influences in an attempt to “protect their futures” images such as this show how difficult that is (and suggest how futile it is as well). Diversity, just as in financial portfolios as in society, is what makes us stronger, not weaker.

How many cultures do you see represented in this image?

Obama “is the incarnation of the American dream,” the French black leader Lozes said. “Here, we will ask the question: ‘Where is the French dream?'”
(Yahoo! News story)

This is a quote from a short, but interesting article asking when Europe will have its own Barack Obama (a non-caucasian – or immigrant – holding a high position in government), but what stood out the most for me was the last line of this quote. Do europeans have a dream and if so, what is it?

I’ve always aspired to my own personal version of the American Dream. It’s been a driving force throughout my life and it has had less to do with America (the political territory) than it does with a simple idea: I am ultimately responsible for my own well-being, for my destiny, and it is entirely up to me what I make of my life. Anything is possible if I so will it.

I don’t think I would be too far off the mark to say that the Dream is what binds most Americans, more so than any other artifice (and there are many: the flag, the statue of liberty, etc.). In fact, i would say that the Dream isn’t even an artifice, but a reality: it’s what brings thousands and thousands of people to the U.S. every year, and it is, in my opinion, why Barack Hussein Obama will win the presidential election on Tuesday: people see in him the realization of their own dream.

So here I am in the Canary Islands, carrying my dream with me. In 2009 I will have been here 5 years. I’ve learned a lot about life here, and about the people, but clearly their Dream is different from my own and that difference has been the source of more than one misunderstanding since I arrived.

So, in closing, I ask: what is the European Dream? What do europeans aspire to? Or more to the point, what do my fellow Canary Islanders aspire to?