Is a Dream a Lie if it Don't Come True?

Nick* is an Airman stationed at in Minot, North Dakota.  He has been in the Air Force for several years now, and has been stationed in Italy and Turkey.  He is trained in “special weapons” and looks forward to attaining E-7 status soon.  He was recently transferred to the Minot base, so he and his wife and their infant son bought a house with a loan from the bank.  For Nick it was all part of that American Dream: a good job, a loving family, and a new house to call their home.

That was in April – two months before the flood that would dash that dream. “I made three payments on the house before the flood, and now…” Nick let the sentence hang in the air without completing it.  “I don’t know what I can do.”

And Nick isn’t alone in this predicament.  “There are four others in my shop going through the same thing,” he said.  He’s applied for various forms of assistance.  FEMA has helped some, but he doesn’t qualify for an SBA loan. “And even if I did qualify, there’s no way I could pay it back.  I’m already overextended.”

He and his co-workers on the airbase have been helping each other to clean out the mess the flood made of their houses – pumping out the water, ripping out the dry wall, throwing out the damaged furniture.  He works nights at the airbase, puts in several hours of work on his house, and then sleeps for a couple of hours before heading back to the base.  His wife and son have moved in with her parents in Nevada.   “I miss them, but they’re better off there.” 

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true

Or is it something worse [1]

The future is uncertain for Nick.  The American Dream has been washed away in the river flood.  “I don’t know what to do.” He put his head down on the table.  “I’ll probably loose the house to the bank, but what can I do?” 

To volunteer in Minot visit http://www.usc.salvationarmy.org/usc/www_usc_minot.nsf, or call
701-838-8925.

Monetary donations can be made in the following ways:
-Donate $10 by texting “MINOT” to 80888 and replying “yes” to the confirmation text. A one-time donation of $10 will be added to your cell phone bill. For terms, see www.igfn.org/t.
-Or by calling 800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)
-Or by mailing a check to The Salvation Army, 315 Western Ave., Minot, ND 58701. Be sure to designate your donation “Minot Flood.”
-Or donate online at https://secure20.salvationarmy.org/donation.jsp

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* Not his real name.

[1] “The River” Bruce Springsteen, 1981