When I met Barack Obama during a fundraising event before the 2008 election, I had only a few seconds to state what I deemed most important.  “Barack”, I pleaded:

“Please don’t ever start a war!”

Surrounded by screaming supporters, our now President Barack Obama -- seemingly accepting the gravity of this plea -- shared a moment of silence with me.  I can only hope that his sincerity will lead to steps towards peace.  Without a doubt, peace and the abolition of suffering in general must supersede all other agendas.  Survival is, after all, the basis of our happiness.  Yet we are also in dire need of a new vision, a new dream that can guide us through the jungle of the material world into a future that is worth living.

In 1776 the Right to the Pursuit of Happiness was deemed worthy of inclusion into the Declaration of Independence.  This was a wise decision as it created room for people to think, dream and follow their aspirations.  Yet the American Dream that ultimately transpired has long become stale.  It is the dream of wealth that constitutes more of an obstacle to happiness than a propellant.  The dream serves only those whose means exclude them from education, health, relative comfort and safety.  After that, the dream hollows out its dreamers.  It causes depletion of our inner and outer resources while receiving nothing of lasting value in return.

As we have to run faster and faster to stay where we are, as Thomas Friedman put it in The World is Flat, we need to redefine our dream to save us from utter depletion.  The American Dream must become redefined not only for our individual salvation, but for our nation’s and our entire globe’s salvation.  Our new dream must make us good citizens of the world: inclusive, open-minded, and compassionate.  It should fulfill us, and do so at no expense to others.

The urgency of redefining the American Dream is underlined by the fact that our progress rests more upon creative collaboration than ever.  As Friedman quotes a computer scientist: “We need to think more seriously than ever about how we encourage people to focus on productive outcomes that advance and unite civilizations-peaceful imaginations that seek to minimize alienation and celebrate interdependence rather than self-sufficiency, inclusion rather than exclusion” (p.609).

These goals can only be achieved when we shift the American Dream from quantity to quality.  We should aim at a life that takes us beyond Ego.  Such would be a life of active participation (striving towards good goals and good relationships) and of awareness of our participation (being).  ‘Full life participation’ deserves to be called happiness as it transcends the goal of mere survival.  If I had a second plea I could bring forward to our president, it would be this:

“Please help happiness become the new American Dream!”

While happiness cannot be legislated, we can -- as for good health -- prompt a serious, public debate and more research as well as create an environment conducive to its occurrence.  Including happiness as in ‘full life participation’ in a political party’s platform can lead to those steps and thus to true and lasting human progress!

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