Melissa+C’s+OpEd+Article




 * //__Melissa Defends the “Elite”__// **

We are roughly 75% through our Junior year of high school. We are in AP classes. We have learned how to see both sides of a situation.

Or so I thought.

Our discussions in English about __ The Great Gatsby __ have left me questioning our ability to fairly come to conclusions and take sides. I never thought I would say this, but not all wealthy people are snobs!

Look everyone; Fitzgerald did have a point about the rich. Yes, there are people in the United States who practically bathe in money and who look down their noses at anyone who doesn’t have as many summer vacation homes in Europe as they do. Honestly though, not all rich people are like that! I have some very wealthy distant relatives who live in Lake Tahoe, and thanks to three of my other cousins, there have been several weddings during the past five years, and thus I have been able to spend time with my wealthy distant cousins. Sure, they flew to Arizona to meet up with all of us in their own private jet, but they did not brag about this unimportant, minimal fact. They did not look down on any of us. They did not wear designer clothing, and we learned their children attend public school. You know, most of the time, rich people actually WORK HARD to earn their money. It is not fair that we complain about them simply because they spend extra years in college to earn a PhD to become a well-respected professional surgeon, lawyer, or engineer. This is America, the so-called “land of opportunity”! It’s ok to be rich and famous! No, it doesn’t mean everything in the world to become a high achiever, but is it really a crime to be rewarded with a comfortable life after years of hard work and dedication?! Take, for example, my immediate family. My immediate family is not wealthy, and is, on the contrary, middle class. However, after many years of school and hard work, my mother was able to buy a beautiful used Jaguar. For her entire life, she dreamed about this car, and never thought she would be able to afford it, but after years and years she finally earned the car by working hard and saving her money. This, on a grander scale, is how many people are able to obtain an abundance of money. Once again, since when did this become a crime?!

I hope this will bring more insight to the ongoing discussion concerning the “elite” and the “American Dream” to English class. May we no longer see only one side of the argument.media type="file" key="melissac-muckraker-0910.mp3"