Ragged Dick, Roger and Me...Which is More Real?

In the documentary “Roger and Me” by Michael Moore the city of Flint Michigan is portrayed as a town with all the life sucked out of it. You can’t get out because no one wants in. Like the poverty in the entire United States, Flint’s poverty is a cycle and there doesn’t seem to be an answer to solve it. On the other end of the spectrum is Horatio Alger’s “Ragged Dick”. “Ragged Dick” (as implied in the name) is the fluffy, all American, rags to riches story. Both show the opposite ends of the spectrum of America’s idea of “the land of opportunity”. Which is more real, you ask. First it depends on how you would define real. I know that you mean which is more likely or possible, but you said real. Do you believe in Karma? If you did bad in another life it will affect your status in this life? Do you believe in chance? By luck you will come across a rich man in dire need, or be born into an affluent family? Believe it or not I think Michael Moore’s documentary and the excerpt form the book go hand in hand. Ragged Dick came across that man in need by chance. It was not because he had worked hard his whole life taking swimming lessons for that moment. By chance the story ends up like that. Flip the coin and you see a whole different world. People stuck in a po-dunk town wanting only a job. But they can’t get it. Dear Mr. President then gives them the fine advice, “Hey, if I were you I’d just move.” But they can’t. No one will buy their house, their family lives there, etc., etc. The American Dream is if you work hard you’ll get what’s coming to you. My point is you get what you by (fill in the blank). Karma, God, Chance. You get born into your lot in life. I think you can work hard and achieve a lot in some circumstances. I don’t dispute that. But I think the American dream isn’t that. It’s that anyone from anywhere can get what they want from life with plenty of hard work. That’s not a “true” statement. From what I have seen it’s been proven false.