What Do We Do Now?

The Question is “Suppose for a moment you agree with Alger. How could interring the “Ragged Dick” myth be possible? In other words, what can we do to put an end to the American Dream.
I sit in class everyday and think to myself almost exactly the same thing. Yes, we all agree poverty in our nation is prevelant. Yes, we all can agree the if somehow you find yourself in poverty circumstance, i.e. lower class, raising yourself to a higher standard is difficult if not nearly impossible. The list of predicaments we as a society have goes on. But at the end of every class I think to myself. Ok, we agree on all these topics…..now what do we do? How could we change any of this? Short of voting when I’m 18, I can never think of anything. I’m underage and underpaid. There is little I can physically do. But there must be something I command myself.
I feel like it is weak and doesn’t do any of the issues justice but I believe we can spread the word. Maybe it would only start in our school. We make a club or organization the deals specifically with current events or politics. Maybe we write a bomb paper and we give it as a speech at morning meeting. But lets go further. What about the newspaper? What about the radio? If we put time and effort into creating worthy articles, papers, speeches, presentations, or even clubs…would we make a difference?
I went into the Wal-Mart today to get groceries with my dad. For the first time ever I consciously thought to be polite. I thought I should be polite while I was in Wal-Mart. I remembered to put the shredded cheese back on the rack when I chose not to buy it. Why do this you ask, why go to the trouble? As I was in the Wal-Mart I was reminded of the book “Nickel and Dimed”. I thought about Ehrenreich and her feet hurting after working so hard for so many hours. I thought about her anger at all the people who would come and let their little children terrorize the racks of the women’s section. I thought… if I worked here, I would hope everyone would do the tiny task of putting their items back where they got them from. Had I never read this book though I wouldn’t have cared. I would NOT HAVE KNOWN Wal-Mart’s employees made such little money for their hard work. We think we can only do so much. One person wrote “Nickel and Dimed”. It touched me enough to make me put my cheese back on the rack. This gesture seems insignificant. Why does it matter if I do such menial task? Wasn’t part of Ehrenreich’s point in her writing the book that we need to see the lower class differently? Not that they are simply stupid, uneducated laborers with easy jobs but that the work they do although it isn’t rocket science makes our life so much easier. Therefore shouldn’t I try to make their life a little easier as well? I believe making speading our knowledge of myths in society will make a difference. It will go further than just me, you and that guy who overheard your speech. I believe he will tell is wife who will go on to tell her friend etc. etc. This is how we end cultural myths.