"Breathing dreams like air..."

I am fairly happy with the direction that my life is headed in at this point. I have challenged myself academically, and it is paying off for my future. My biggest goal for how I want to live my life in the future is to experience as much of life as possible. At it's most basic level, I think this is truly the American Dream. Most of what people do in pursuit of "The American Dream" is so that they can do what makes them happy when it really matters. Everybody in the world wants to be happy, so they create goals to help them achieve this. The pursuit of happiness is even explicitly mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, alongside life and liberty as the three core principles of America. Since both life and liberty are guaranteed in America, most people devote their time to the third principle, the pursuit of happiness. Gatsby spends lavish amounts of money in an attempt to get Daisy to notice him so that he can truly be happy, which shows that people have little regard for monetary wealth or material goods in their pursuit of happiness.
People do not only seek their own happiness though. There are organizations and people all over the world that are fighting for other people to be happy. This is true altruism, which is working for other people's happiness without regard to your own. People do not volunteer for their own physical benefit, but to help others find the happiness that everyone wants. Not everyone who does charity work enjoys their time doing this work, but by helping other people become happier, volunteers get a level of satisfaction and contentment that makes them feel happier as well.
I believe that true wealth is the freedom to do what you want without restriction. This is why even though Gatsby is extraordinarily rich, I would not consider him wealthy, because he does not have the freedom to do what he really wants, which is to be with Daisy. The only character in The Great Gatsby that I would consider wealthy is Tom Buchanan. Tom can and does do whatever he wants, although he is not a good person about it. For most of the novel, Tom faces no repercussions for his actions due to both his social status and his vast riches. Anyone who is truly unhappy cannot be wealthy, because that is what I believe wealth really is.
This reminds me of a quote "And when Alexander saw the breadth of his empire, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer." Alexander the Great had devoted most of his life to doing what made him happy, expanding his empire and defeating his enemies, but when he was finished he was sad because he could no longer do what made him happy. This relates to the constitution and the "pursuit of happiness" because they portray happiness more as a journey, rather than a destination. Throughout life, people's idea of what happiness is for them can change, but almost every decision in a person's life is based on what they think will provide them with the most happiness in the long run, which is truly "The American Dream" .