Mother it is obvious I will go to America with or without your consent, and if you give me the money I will appreciate it immensely, if you don't have it, I guess you'll have to borrow it, and if you don't want to give me the money, I'll just have to swim I guess. I won't be neither the first nor the last.

 

There is obviously nothing to worry about, and no difficulties included in the package. If there were to be any, I would not get myself involved in the first place, for I am neither crazy nor overly optimistic: As I have told you countless times, I will put into work the Veni, Vidi, Vici approach.  I will go, make that million dollars real quick and come back before you even notice I was gone.

 

I know I am seventeen, mother. Do you think I lost track? And why do you say "only" seventeen? Am I not old enough for you? Mother, I think you need to trust me a little bit more. What will I do in America? What do people do in America, mother? I will go to school; I will work a little bit and in my free time, I will make it a point to have fun. Actually, now that I think about it, the Americans have a lot of free time I have heard (they are such a rich nation after all) so I might have to focus a lot more on the fun part...  Who will I stay with? Mother, now what kind of a question is that? Aren't you being a little too pessimistic? What kind of people do you think the Americans to be? Do you think that anyone in America  would find enough evil in their heart to allow such a fine Albanian to sleep under the bridge? You are definitely too pessimistic, mother.

 

I will probably use one of these exchange programs, at least in the beginning, but I plan to move on my own very quickly. How will I afford it? Certainly I will seek employment somewhere, and I doubt a fine specimen such as myself will be denied a position anywhere! It's not like they will be running out of jobs anytime soon in America! As to the kind of employment that I will be attaining, unlike the rest, that would be mere speculation at this point. I guess I will go with the flow, though I must say, a nice cushy job somewhere never hurt anyone... What if I am incapable of finding a job I am comfortable with? I doubt that will happen, but my policy is on of non-bargaining. If I settle for nothing less, than I will attain nothing less.

 

Mother, what kind of question is it: Aren't I afraid I am going to miss you, mother? I am being serious here! We've got something very serious in our hands! Let us not compromise the American Dream with such archaic and patriarchal notions such as longing. Why must we as nation be so pessimistic in our endeavors. I am working with a plan here, mother: I am pursuing the American Dream. Let us be serious for a moment, focus, and understand the notion and the very foundations it lies upon. What I offer... my vision, is one riddled in simplicity. Arrival in America, a quick rise to the top, and an even quicker return home. Mother, it is pure genius, it is brilliant, it is, above all, necessary.

I know and understand that your wage is about $100 a month, father is unemployed and aside  myself and my little brother, you are also supporting all three living grandparents, and I also know and understand very well that $ 7000 is a good chunk of money, but the situation at hand is reduced down to one single, all inclusive question: Mother, can we say no to destiny? I would argue, no.

 

What about my friends? Oh, mother, always so melancholic! Always prying on the spiritual. You must try and leave the backwardness of Eastern Europe behind in your mental map of the world  and for once I want you to try and visualize America and all which it encompasses. I want you to visualize it as it rises from the foundations of an ageless continent, yet so young in its history, so unsurpassable in its might, so fresh in its approach. What a piece of work is America! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals!

 

I know right now this might sound as the babbling of a teenager, but you will understand one day. The American Dream is obviously much more than just an empty idea reducing the proletariat to pragmatism. It is more than just a simple approach to governance, an idea devoid of meaning which keeps the middle and lower classes subdued through the desire to succeed. Mother, the American Dream is not yet another opiate for the masses.   

 

Having been born and lived in such backwardness for so long, by virtue of necessity, we are too corrupt in our ideology, too immersed in the present, and too selfish in our desires, to be truly capable of comprehending as pure a thought. The American ideology in its outmost simplicity is not just moral righteousness, but what is truly remarkable about us as humanity, what we should strive for as a whole in order to be marked as inherently good in the eye of the Creator, what is noble of our endeavor in our journey toward death. Mother, "the American Dream" is the reality of a people, not the hallucination of, it is truth carved in stone, not a vision in the desert.  

 

Indeed, it is because I understand it, that I endorse it. This is not a shot in the dark. I am not trying to be the blind man in a room full of deaf people, but rather merely attempting to be in unison with an upwardly mobile population that knows no boundaries. Mother, we have in our hands a people that has surpassed the Tower of Babel countless times, a population which has calmly laid siege to the hopeless heavens, whose achievement sees no ends, other than the "soon to be conquered" in all probability, those of spiritual bliss. Mother, the American Dream is attained perfection, not subjugation.

 

My desire to go to America is not the mindless attempt of a teenager to achieve freedom from parental control before the official deadline of Universal Suffrage, but rather the well calculated move toward a desired objective grounded in reality. The noblest of causes, the most well defined of paths, yours truly: The Endorsement of a Dream.

 

I have a dream as well, mother. And that dream is simple and sincere as simple and sincere  we Albanians are. I have a dream; that one day, in every immigration office I set foot upon, I shall  be judged not by the color of my red communist passport but by the content of my blue, freedom loving one. I have a dream; that one day I may pursue and attain the American dream, and no longer dream nightmares of supperless evenings, but rather dream of middle class values, of whoppers and happy meals, coca cola and no starch on my plate as I will no longer be eastern and backward, rather  western and dwelling in the American dream, my Atkins dream, democracy exporting for democracy is on wheels, Antebellum dream...

 

Mother, to deny me this opportunity, would be to stand against the mighty winds of destiny.  How can we, mere creatures of causality refuse what has been pre-ordained by higher powers? How can we, with our insignificant wills, even dream to stand against this avalanche of predestined historical outcome, which is the American Dream? Mother, we stand no chance: We are the lost tribes of times long gone, hopelessly searching for our homeland, and not realizing that the arms of America are wide open, and are expecting nothing short of our abandonment in it. Mother, the Olympus is watching, the Gods rightfully expect the fulfillment of their will. Mother, I must go to America.

 

Mother, nations will perish, but the American Dream will stand. Mother, eternity will come to an end, the American Dream will continue. Mother, the Tower of Babel and like minded endeavors will lie ruinous, the American Dream will tower above the heavens. I must go to America.  Indeed, the paraphrase one of the many fine Americans out there: "We have not yet begun to sail to America." Yet, there, it lies right at the stretch of our fingertips: Far like reality, yet close like a dream.

 

And what is holding us back from attaining it? Money. Yes, money. The virus of the ages. You know mother, this archaic notion, merely a step above bartering, will probably be outlawed very soon in America. Oh, yes indeed. Do not be surprised. It will probably be outlawed very soon and that continent will be using smiles as their currency. Oh, this is quite serious mother. What else could it be? Such wealth, such innovation, such reason, such progress... Anything less than a smile, will certainly be inadequate.

 

Mother, give me America or give me death. Oh, yes, it is that serious indeed. No need to laugh, a lot is at stake here. Mother, we should no longer ask what I can do for our country, but rather what our country can do for me. It is the duty of this country, not merely this family, to send me to America, for indeed my success will not simply be shared among us as a family, but among us as a people. We must endorse our destiny as a people, mother: I must leave at once. Give me America...  Produce, America.... Give me America or give me death.