What is Culture? What is Diversity?

Culture is the way you were raised or the people you were around.

Diversity is the differences that different cultures have towards the same thing. 

-Jeremy

Culture is a way of life for a certain type of people, where they live, what they teach their kids.

Diversity is how people react to people who are different.

-Steve

Culture is your customs and who you are.

Diversity is knowing that everyone is different, and nobody is the same.

-Amber

I interviewed three people who have many cultural differences from me, and some similarities. I interviewed two males, one was a 40 year old white male, and the other was a 38 year old white male. I also interviewed my fifteen year old step-daughter. I was impressed by the definitions that they all gave for culture because they were all very good, and not limited to ethnicities. Their answers for diversity were more vague, but also very good. 

Family Culture

I am excited as I begin my newest class, Perspectives on Diversity and Equity. This class will give me many opportunities to look at myself, my culture, others, and their culture, as well as how I feel about the different cultures. In this first assignment I get to 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.


After a great deal of thought about what I would take with me, and what would represent my family culture I have narrowed it down to three items. They would be my bible, a photo album/scrapbook, and  my iPod. 


My Bible would be the first item I take with me because I would want to be able to continue to read it, and to be able to read it to my children. I have a strong faith in God and feel that my bible would be the single most important item to take. I feel that with my faith in God I am never alone, and with his word I will always have the answers that I need.


I would take a photo album because It holds the pictures of all of my loved ones, including my mother, my husband, and my children. These are all of the things I hold dear, and my photo's will represent our culture through the experiences that we have captured in them.


I would take my iPod because it holds all of the music that represents my family, and our culture. Music is something that has always been close to my heart. Music is a way to express myself, my feelings, as well as to worship my God. Most of the music that I would have in my iPod would mainly represent my faith, but also my family culture.


If I had to only take one item with me, it would be my bible. I would take it because although I have read it, and am familiar with some of it, I could never remember all of it. I know that I would be stronger mentally and emotionally if I had the support of reading God's Word when I would most likely feel very lost, alone, and out of place in a strange world that I now would have to call home, possibly permanently. With my bible I could be reassured of all the many questions that I would most likely have, and would have the ability to continue to teach God's word to the others that were also misplaced due to the catastrophe. 


Through this assignment I have learned a great deal about myself. Many people that I know would want to take things such as their make up, hair dryer, straightener, or things of that nature. That is not something that even crossed my mind when I was thinking about what kinds of things I would want to have with me. It was a hard decision of what I would like to bring. Many things that crossed my mind were things that have been in my family passed down to me, or things my kids have made. Although these are things I would hate to have to give up, the ones that I chose would have to be more important to me and my family as well as my culture.