« Allie's Metaphor Story | Main | Nanette's Culture »
September 15, 2005
Culture According to Allie
We all belong to more than one culture. In fact, there really isn't such a thing as ONE culture. There are so many different cultures, each overlapping with each other and lacking definitive lines. In my opinion, this adds to the beauty of it all, and feeling welcome in more than one culture is what moving forward as a world is partly about.
To me, culture has a lot to do with sharing. Culture is a group's shared background, beliefs, religion, location, ethnicity, the manner in which they go about their daily lives. Reactions to encounters are part of culture; values, a way of thinking, language. A common heritage, shared customs, shared foods.
Culture is the accepted practices of a society, its traditions, its shared life goals, its guidelines of what is right and what is wrong. What matters in life to you is your culture. What you do, what you make of yourself, where your priorities lie, what you are proud of, and how you choose to spend your time is your culture.
If we think of culture in this way, it is not difficult to see that almost everyone in the world shares some part of their culture with someone else - no matter how opposite they may appear to seem to each other at first glance. Culture goes beyond that.
After all this, it feels difficult to try to start to touch upon my culture!
Location: I was born and raised in one of the most culturally diverse and accepting areas. This has had a big impact in shaping how I look at the world and how it sees me. It almost feels unnatural to me to be in a room with the majority of the people in it being white (I'm not saying there's anything wrong...). I'm used to having ethnic leftovers with my Dad -literally having Japanese, German, Burmese, Indian, Chinese, Italian, and Mexican food in the timespan of a few days! I feel I respect other cultures, and exploring and learning about new ones is one of my life priorities -my culture.
Family: The values my parents have set for me have greatly impacted my priorities, what matters to me, and what I do with my time. They have always pushed me to work to reach my potential, and have always been supportive of me in my endeavors.
Heritage: My "Mum" coming to the United States from England, all my remaining family on her side is still in England. I live with British traditions everyday at home, hear British accents on a daily basis, and have been able to visit and live in Britain, which has had one of the biggest impacts on my life. I feel so fortunate to have been able to actually escape the United States to see what lies beyond our vast country, and to see that there are so many other places, ways of life, and cultures (!!!) out there.
My Grandpa being a Jew in Germany at the time of the Holocaust, he was incredibly lucky to escape and make it to England, despite losing relatives, friends, and everything that belonged to his family for many generations. Understandably, he was always relunctant to talk about his life in Germany, but his German culture was evident through his cooking, traditions, and very interesting Northern England/German accent. Over the past few years I have explored the German side of my heritage, have been able to visit Germany, and feel I have a better sense of that side of where I come from.
Posted by lcisthur at September 15, 2005 12:23 AM
Comments
My grandma is the same way as your grandfather. It is not often she talks about her experiences in the Holocaust, but when she does, my mom and uncle are sure to document everything. Its frustrating sometimes because I want know the full picture, but sometimes that's not possible. Good job integrating your culturally diverse San Fran in your essay!
Posted by: Lauren Searls at September 15, 2005 10:51 AM
My grandmother was living in Germany during that time. Her family aren't Jewish but I hear all the horrific details every so often. As Lauren said in the comment above me about being frustrated because she wants to know the full picture, I feel the same way, and I'm sure you do too. Good job on the whole things, i enjoyed it.
Posted by: Rachel at September 16, 2005 09:22 AM