Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

The three people that I talked to about culture and diversity were my mom, my cousin, and my college roommate. When I asked my cousin what her definition of culture was she responded that culture was the different beliefs that people have about certain things like, religion, gender roles, and marriage. When I asked my cousin how she would define diversity she responded that diversity is something that makes everyone different from one another. The second person that I talked to about culture and diversity was my college roommate she responded that culture is about family, beliefs that are important to your family, and being there for one another. In terms of diversity my roommate responded that diversity is a different understanding then others about what is important to them. The third person that I asked was my co-worker, whose response to what they believed to be the definition of culture to be beliefs that families or people hold dear to them, traditions that they pass down from generation to generation. My co-workers definition of diversity is people who are come from different cultures, and have different prospectives on life.

My Family Culture

If my family and I were to be relocated to another country and I could only take three items with me, I would take my locket, a family photo, and my music box. These items are important to me because them were from my childhood, the locket I received from my great grandmother as a birthday gift, the family photo is from when I was a baby...when we actually took family photos, and the music box I have had for so long that I do not remember when, where, or who I received it from, it is a small ceramic music box that plays a twinkle version of "My Favorite Things". If upon arrival I was told that I could only keep one personal item and was to give up the others I would be sad and disappointed, but I know that I would keep the locket.

The insights that I have gained about my self, my family culture, diversity, and cultural differences as a result of this exercise is that I really do not have many truly personal items that matter to me, besides the fact that I had to go up to my room to actually see if I really did have anything of true importance, besides the locket, that would mean something to me, the first item that really popped into my head to take with me was my phone. If I was being truly honest the three items that I would want with me would be my phone, the charger, and my headphones. This really should me the insights to my family culture as well, because it made me realize we really do not have much of a culture, unless being ignorant, materialistic American's is a culture. Which only really shows why diversity is such a big thing, especially in America, I believe it is because most American's are like my family in terms of not being able to relate to other cultures, because we do not understand the importance of what culture is or what it really means.