Culture

Culture is not defined or maintained by our skin color, language or geography. Culture is defined as, “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group and the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations; culture is a set of rules and traditions” (Webster). Each family has its own culture which is comprised of many different components. As significant culture is in our lives and touches every aspect of what and who we are, it is not set in stone but can be changed and improved as we so choose.

The United States of America has a diverse population existing today. America is known as a melting pot because there are many unique and different cultures. Coming from Ethiopia, I had a hard time adjusting because the culture was so different from what I knew growing up. I was shocked at the difference. In Ethiopia, people greet each other with a light handshake. When greeting the same gender, they kiss three times on the cheek, when it is the opposite gender the men always wait to see if the women extend the hand. The greeting is also never rushed, rather they inquire about the family, health, job, etc. Whereas here in the U.S. people use a firm handshake, there is no kissing of the cheek, and greeting is rather rushed. When someone asks, “how are you?” I had to quickly learn that they do not really want to know how I am and I was supposed to answer, “Good” and move on. Another thing I had a hard time adapting to was being able to use my left hand to eat and the usage of utensils when eating because, in Ethiopia, food is eaten only with the right hand because the left hand is considered unclean and there is no use of utensils. It took me a while to understand and adapt to the new culture that was being introduced to me but eventually I was able to add the American culture into my life along with my Ethiopian culture.

As I said in my first post, my siblings come from different nations. My parents were amazing because they added each of our cultures in our home so we would not forget where we came from. So really, if you think about it, my home is a melting pot on its own! While it was great, my siblings and I clashed because we grew up in different ways. I knew then that I wanted to marry someone who had a similar culture to me so that our marriage did not struggle due to a different culture. Now don’t get me wrong, no marriage is perfect whether each individual comes from similar or different culture, but I preferred having a partner with similar culture and thought of mind because that was best for me. My husband is from Haiti and while Haitian and Ethiopian culture is different, our marriage has prospered because we married within our socio-economic status. Socio-economic status is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. Socio-Economic systems include income, location, appearance, mannerism, and lifestyle. My husband and I both come from outside of the U.S., have the same religious beliefs, have the same lifestyle and mannerism. Understanding that culture is changeable, we have changed and added culture we grew up with and ones we have seen from friends to enrich our marriage and lives. What culture do you currently have in your life? If there is some culture you do not like, remember that culture can be taken away, added and changed any way you wish and/or works best for you.