My Family Culture

My Family Culture

 

Imagining that my immediate family and I are among the survivors of a catastrophic event would give me more reason to praise and thank God for his mercy and grace upon my family.  It would not matter that we would become refugees in a country whose culture is different from my own, as long as we were all together.  In the event that I could only take three items with me, it would be my laptop, bible and flat-irons for my hair.

 

First, I would take my laptop because it stores all of my family pictures, favorite music, recipes collected from my family members, and it provides an avenue to get in touch with other family, regardless of where they are located in the world.  It contains links to everything that I hold dear.

 Second, I would take my bible.  The heart of my family culture is centered on our Christian beliefs.  My family instilled Christian values in me at an early age and I did the same for my children.  Although I have the old and new testaments loaded on my laptop, I still prefer the family bible my father passed on to me.  I remember when my father purchased that bi bible over 50 years ago.  He took the time to complete the sections that contained information about our Family Tree, including birthdays and names of family members I had never met.  It contained hi-lighted areas of verses that meant a lot to him.  He passed away three years ago and I considered myself very fortunate to acquire this bible because it meant so much to him.

 Aside from the aforementioned items, the only other thing I probably would take with me would be my flat irons.  I know this probably has nothing to do with my family culture, except that all the women in my family take pride in their hair and we’re always getting together to do each other’s hair.  I have been known to forget a lot of things whenever I travel, but my flat irons have never been one of them.

Imagining that upon arrival in my new country that I could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two, the item I would keep would be my laptop.  Keeping my laptop would better serve my family and me in a new country because of all its capabilities.

The insights I gained about myself, my family culture, diversity, and cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise are as follow:

·         My family culture is less about material items and more about values, traditions, and spirituality that are instilled within me.

·         When you are blessed to survive a major catastrophe along with your loved ones, it doesn’t matter how different a culture is from your own, what matters is being thankful and proud of your own culture and being respectful.