Success

MY American Dream
There is a nice house with a white picket fence in a small town, with three children, one boy and two girls playing out in the front yard. A handsome man pulls into the driveway and the children run to him with their arms wide open, yelling “Daddy! Daddy!”….That is MY American dream! As I grow into my stilettos as a woman, I am striving to become a good wife, a nurturing mother, a successful, independent woman, achieving a stronger faith in God and being comfortable in my surroundings. This is very similar to Lynette Scavo, played by Felicity Huffman, in Desperate Housewives.
Lynette has a successful job at an advertising company. She is well known for her fiercely determined attitude and ability to knock her competition off their feet. Lynette is happily married to Tom Scavo, played by Doug Savant. Tom is the ideal man; tall, dark, and handsome. He is focused on what he wants in life and Lynette is his number one fan. The couple have four energetic, healthy children, Preston, Porter, Parker, and Penny. There is never a dull moment in the Scavo household. Lynette is surrounded by her close friends and neighbors, Susan, Bree & Gabby, that support her in everything she does. Lynette seems to have the all around perfect life, or so it seems from the outside.
Even though I envy Lynette’s killer woman power and “perfect” family, every TV
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show has it’s drama. The difference between fantasy and reality is that not every one of life’s problems can be solved in an hour, include commercial breaks. The Scavo family often feels the need to be “keeping up with the Jones’.” The real question is that even if you “have it all” are we really happy or will we always just want more? Lynette may not have the house in the Hampton’s or the luxurious yacht and she may have many flaws as a wife, a mother and a woman in general, but she appears to have a happy family. She has achieved her goals. She is an all around successful woman.
The difference between Lynette’s character and the characters we see in the tabloids of “Holly-Weird” is that I don’t feel pressured to be the image of “perfection” by her character. Lynette shows the world that she isn’t perfect, and no one is. She has made many mistakes in her life, such as becoming addicted to her son’s ADD medication. Of course she had her reasons. She thought it would help her be a more alert mother and the perfect content housewife. Even if it was an unsuccessful attempt, it just went to prove that we all have flaws. Even the most successful of women make mistakes, which only make us stronger.
The one thing that stands out between Lynette and myself is that she does not appear to have the relationship with God that I would like to have. I grew up in a strong Catholic family. I fully intend to raise my children with the same Catholic values and beliefs that I grew up with. Faith is very important to me and I strongly believe without a strong belief in God, life can be a lot harder than it should be. There is also another difference between the two of us. Lynette is the businesswoman in the power suit and I’m the high school teacher wearing the blue jeans and spirit shirt. I am currently pursuing my
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degree in Family and Consumer Science with a teaching certificate. I know I won’t ever walk into the board room to present my marketing campaign, but when I walk in those classrooms I hope to have the same effect on the students that Lynette has on those CEOs.
The media constantly tells us what Hollywood’s idea of success is. Even in sitcoms about middle class families, success is still portrayed as having a large house, a nice car, and frivolous luxuries such as plasma TV’s and iPods. I can argue that money does not influence your ability to be a successful person, but I would be a hypocrite. In order to have the nice 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in the suburbs, or the safe, family SUV of my dreams, I must have money. Sure, thousands of Americans live on credit and have all of these luxury items, but are they truly happy? That brings me to the question of what is happiness? I believe that I will be happy once I have achieved all of my life goals, I am surrounded by those that love me, and when I have developed a strong relationship with God.








Work Cited
Desperate Housewives. ABC. KVUE. 16 January 2005.