My Family Culture

Imagine 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.

A description of the three items you would choose and how you would explain to others what each of these items means to you.

I would take with me…

A small Statue of Liberty statue- this represents the country and culture I came from and that we are considered the land of the free. 

My dog tags- this represents the time I spent serving my country and how that time changed my life and my culture.

A family photo album- pictures from my past and present will always remind me of my culture. 

Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you.

I would have difficulty giving up two of the items.  Only three items seems limited to begin with.  I suppose the actions I take and the personality I carry will always guarantee that my culture will remain with me.  However, I must also incorporate some of the country’s culture that I am to mesh myself within their surroundings. 

Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise.

I thought that I may have difficulty finding three items to represent my culture, and I realized afterwards that having those items made me no more of myself.  I have been able to understand culture more because I realized that my culture lies within me as well.