My Family Culture Assignment

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

In response to this scenario I had to actually think real hard as to the three items I would take with me to this new land of unknown.  The first item I selected to take with me would be our family Bible, it has inside its pages pictures of family members an d other significant items to our family.  The other item I would take would be a photo album of my family.  In that photo album I have my grandparents, great Aunts and Uncles, cousins, my mom and dad, the entire family that I can recall.  The last item I think I would take with me would be a blanket my mother knit for me as a child.  This is a skill she learned from my great Aunt.  In order for me to explain to others the value of these items, I would show the photos I have in the album and in the family Bible.  I feel anyone whom values family unit, regardless of culture would grasps its place in my life.  Understanding the importance of family would allow them to understand how important each of these pieces are to me.  Material items are valuable to someone, especially if it carries sentimental value, as these items do for me.

            The feelings I would have when arriving to the new country would be rather overwhelming.  Nerves would be a complete mess.  Fear, worry, anxiety would indeed be in high response.  I would still strive to hold on to my Faith and the Faith I was taught by my family growing up, which can help keep the uneasy feels down.  If on arrival I was told I could only keep one item, I would be very upset to loss any part of me.  Already encountering a distribution in my life and family, fear would carry dominance traveling to the unknown.   In the end I would decide to keep my family Bible with the limited pictures and memorabilia items inside the pages.  Even though I could keep my Faith and recite verses in my mind, it was something in the hands of many family members.  I could close my eyes and envision them touching the Bible and it seemed as if they were with me.  Having to give up part of yourself is and can be very hard, especially if by force.  Family indeed contribute to the identity of oneself. 

            An insight that I gained through this assignment of critical thinking and self-reflection is that family is at the root of all cultures.  Traditions, beliefs, religion, material items, property, and more are left down to the next generation to ensure the survival of their culture.  Of course every culture is different and the impact it makes on the lives of its members varies.  “What is acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 55).  Hold dear to your heart the values of your family and culture, so that you can always express those to your children and so forth. 

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children         (NAEYC).