I have to let you all know, culture/traditions is a hard one for me. I'm still trying to figure out what I want and things I want to change about my own culture. If y'all have any good insights from your own person culture, let me know!
What are some of the
traditions or aspects of YOUR culture that you would want to adjust or get rid
of completely?
Culture. Is it just where we live that perpetuate
our culture? I think that plays a large part of it; however, it is also up to our
parents. In class this week we discussed a case study that discussed ten
undocumented Hispanic families that have traveled from Mexico and came to
America. It discussed their struggles, experiences, their culture in Mexico,
but also their culture in America. The study is called The Cost of Getting Ahead, from Smith, et al. which was extremely
helpful for me to understand some of things that many of my friends and acquaintances
have experienced and continue to experience. In this study the parents wanted
to get ahead, for their children. It wasn’t easy, not even a little. It altered
their family structure and it changed who they were. However, in class we have
a few students who shared their stories and how one or both of their parents
traveled to America to get ahead either as a young child or as an adult. It was
amazing to hear those stories and how as now adults they feel they owe it to
their parents to get the best education and become the best they can be.
I don’t have
those same experiences as I was born in the United States but I can share a
little bit about my culture. I grew up in a culture where family didn’t matter.
You fend for yourself and hope for the best. I grew up with the culture that
people don’t help others, you don’t ask for help, and we make due with what you
got. It’s a hard life to live, it’s hard not feeling loved, and it’s hard to
fend for yourself when you are a young child. I have a firm belief that cultures
can change. When I was 15, I moved into a new home, I moved in with my aunt and
uncle and things were different. I learned what it was like to feel loved, to
have a roof over my head, I learned that it’s okay to be loved. Your family,
those who place within your life, help shape your culture because have patterns,
roles, and each other. Not all are good, but not all are bad. It’s up to you to
fight against the odds if you don’t like something to change it.
Eight years
later I have still continued to adjust the culture that I want. It isn’t easy,
not even close, but I’m so grateful for the opportunities that I have gone
through to help me want to change. Coming from me late teen years I learned the
importance of family and of love. I want to make sure that I keep those two
things in my culture of my house. That when the time comes for me to have
children, they will know and feel they are loved and that they have a support system.
It’s never easy
to break traditions, it’s actually quite hard because we always fall back into
what is familiar. There are times when I’ll fall back into patterns and into
the culture of when I was younger and living with my mother, that’s not a culture
that I like. It takes me a while to get back to what I now call familiar.
I guess what it all
comes down to is what do we want for ourselves and our future. I want a world
full of love, consistency, dependability, and family. As I prepare to start my
own family, I want happiness through all the trials, heartaches, disagreements,
happy moments. I want to raise my family in a culture within the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where they know that no matter what they have
a Father in Heaven who loves them and that everything is going to be okay.
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