My Family Culture

“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.”

            The first think I would take with me would be family pictures.  I have always cherished dearly to my heart having pictures of my family so having those to look at would help me share a piece of my culture with the new culture I am living at as well it would remind me of the beautiful times I had with my family.  

 

 The second thing I would take with me is my security blanket (dads jacket). When I was little I would suck my thumb and while I fell asleep I would love to rub my dads jacket.  He finally gave it to me because it became my security blanket that I had to carry everywhere.  The jacket started falling apart however at my 47 years I keep a sleeve in my drawer because it reminds me of how secured it made me feel as well as it is very special to me because it was my dad’s.    

 

The third thing I would take with me would be my bible. I believe in God and his words are promises for us.  So, having my bible with me would give me the opportunity to keep Gods promises close to me so I can continue reading them and keeping my faith.  I believe that if I had to give up two items I would be so devastated and sad.  It would be so hard to decide on what item I would keep since all three hold a very special place in my heart.  I believe that I would have to choose and keep my family portraits because those again are the ones I would like to share with the new culture, so they learn from my own culture too.  

            What I learned about this exercise was that first of all it was very hard to decide on an item because they are make part of who I am.  Now I understand how hard it is for people of other cultures to come to this country with really nothing and giving up what they most care for.  My family is very important and keeping my culture alive is one thing I cherish as well as I have passed down to my own kids.  There are so many cultural differences and because I have my own culture I believe that it’s important to be open to learn from other cultures because I want to share my own culture as well.   I know that I would like to embrace the new culture but would keep my own roots and culture too.