My Family Culture

I am pursuing a graduate certificate from Walden. I am in my second class entitled Perspectives on Diversity and Equity. This week, I am exploring my own family culture with this blog post assignment.

The assignment’s scenario is the following:

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.

This assignment really made me think about what things are important to me. With a lot of family deaths in the last 6 years, I no longer value things but people. It took me a long time to think about what three items that would represent and remind me of my family culture.

The first item I would take is the Holy Bible. God is the foundation of my faith, beliefs, and values. This book will continue to guide me and my immediate family through the new unfamiliar circumstances. God is the center of who I am. I grew up in a household where prayer was the norm. We use the Bible as a guide to finding answers, praying, and learning more about my faith. Also, the Bible will help me to teach my children about God’s love, mercy, and grace.

The second item I would choose is my Big Mama’s recipe book. After my Big Mama (maternal grandmother) passed away, my aunt collected and wrote down as many of my grandmother’s recipes that she could remember. My grandmother was the root of our family. She was always preparing meals, desserts, or biscuits for one occasion or another. As our family continues to gather for holidays and special occasions, we use her recipes to remember her. Food, particular those recipes, reminds me so much of family and how important family relationships are to me.

The third item I would take is my family’s photo/memory book. This book has a lot of old family pictures, newspaper clippings, and letters from my extended family. This book holds a lot of family history and memories. Anytime this book is brought out, my family and I are told stories of various family members. The book brings joy, laughter, and helps us all to remember family and the family history.  This book helps me to really connect to my family, some I know/knew and some that I never met.

If upon arrive to this foreign country, I was told that I could only keep one item I would keep the Holy Bible. I believe that my faith must be kept strong during this difficult time. I believe that with knowing that God will see me through this event, I could leave all other worldly things behind. Like I stated, dealing with the recent loss of close family members have changed my mind about personal things. I believe that my faith of knowing that I will see extended family once again in Heaven will help me with not being able to take the recipe or memory book.

 
This assignment has allowed me to explore more of who I am because of who my family is. My family has shaped me into the woman I am today. Family culture is what shapes each individual as unique beings. This assignment affirms that for me. Without my family and that foundation, I would be a different person.