‘Dispatches’ To Review State of Local Economy; American Dream Revisited

Patch editors and reporters throughout the nation have joined together to launch a year-long narrative entitled, “Dispatches: The Changing American Dream.” Brandon Patch will contribute to that conversation with a continuation of reports on the state of business in the Greater Brandon community and beyond and the resilience of its citizens to find ways to help themselves and each other in these trying economic times.

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The American Dream.

Individually and collectively, as a community of interests, it’s been good to us or it’s been bad to us; it exists or it doesn’t exist; and maybe, for some of us, we've come to the realization that in our lives and situations it died a long time ago — maybe not for good, but certainly for a good long while.

One thing is certain: We live in trying times, and in these times, the best within us will be tested to the max.

Drive through the streets of Greater Brandon and beyond and it’s no surprise anymore to see a store that’s gone out of business, a restaurant that’s closed its kitchen or a family in the neighborhood that’s moved out in the dead of the night.

In these trying times, some people land the steal of the century while others flip upside down and find themselves in over their heads.

The market flies high, the next day it plunges, and despite interest rates reminiscent of the heydays of home ownership expansion, houses for sale, short or otherwise, fail to attract buyers. Willing they might be, but the fundamentals are weak as loans dry up and insurance is anything but affordable — if attainable at all.

All of which leaves a good number of people wondering how the American Dream of home ownership has instead turned into a nightmare of lost chances and overwhelming stresses.

We, at Brandon Patch, are acutely aware of the situation at hand, that for so many of us the American Dream of working hard and playing by the rules has not been a sure bet to creating a better life for ourselves or for our families.

We witness the signs of our times: job losses and cutbacks, houses in foreclosure, unkempt lawns, packed seminars on bankruptcy, unprecedented demand for help from local charities, pawn shops willing to pay good prices for gold.

Below is a sampling of the reports we have posted on topic since our December launch and we hope you revisit some of these pieces as we take pause to remember what we wish we could forget: that in our lives we are not in a position, at least not yet, to pass on to our children a better world.

For today’s youth, let alone its elders, it matters less why we’re here than what we’re going to do about it and blind hope is not going to cut it. Our only choice, as a college graduate recently told me, is to face the music: know where you stand and figure out what you’re going to do about it.

Not bad advice, and not a far cry from the coverage we hope to continue to deliver.

In reporting on the hardships, though, we also plan to continue our coverage of the stories of hope that always, in all times of community life, give pause to reflect on what matters most: celebrating the times that bind and the efforts that build connections at home, at work and in the community.

From the depths of despair rise the seeds of rebirth and renewal and never are we — or should we be — more creative and innovative than when our backs are against the wall and the only option is to succeed.

So, we leave you with this, our promise to continue to report on the times of our lives, the struggles to reconnect with, or redefine, the American Dream, and the work of Brandonites to make their piece of the world a better, and more hopeful, place to live.

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