America the Beautiful Day 1:The Gateway Arch

This is my first entry in my 31 Days of Blogging: America the Beautiful project.  It’s somewhat fitting that today is the day I start this project as I also find myself in the city of St. Louis, Missouri.

From the National Park Service website for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial:

The Gateway Arch reflects St. Louis’ role in the Westward Expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century. The park is a memorial to Thomas Jefferson’s role in opening the West, to the pioneers who helped shape its history, and to Dred Scott who sued for his freedom in the Old Courthouse.

To me, America has always represented opportunity.   This is a place where you can make anything of yourself provided you are willing to work hard for it.  America is not a nation where a nice job and a comfortable living are just handed to you.  You can be the best and most successful, you simply have to be willing to work for it.

There are those who might argue that America isn’t the land of opportunity.  Instead, it is a land of classes, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  If this is true, then why do so many come here?  Why do so many come here illegally?  If the poor only get poorer, they wouldn’t waste time and what little money they have to get here.

The United States expansion westward brought opportunity to early settlers.  The west offered a chance to make something of yourself.  Today, America offers that same chance to the rest of the world.