So what do I mean by culture? Culture is: "the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place or time; a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc; a way of thinking behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization." My family culture is very interesting; I learned this when I got to live with roommates. As an example I will share an experience: In my family we like things to get done as fast and effectively as possible. Sometimes we accomplish this by tossing items such as the car keys. We are all coordinated enough to catch, and so this became a normal part of life. Well in Argentina I was living with a couple people, and I tossed an item to one of them, I thought it was odd that she didn't catch it. I noticed after a few moments that this person did not appreciate me chucking this item at her. I was confused...wasn't that a normal thing for everyone? She explained, that to her and her family, chucking items at another person is rude, and not appropriate to do. I quickly learned that my family culture is different than other family cultures.
When you come to understand another's culture your eyes are opened, and your ability to see situations from their perspective will be enhanced. This will help us as a society to become evermore tolerant and respecting of those around us.
One thing we did growing up was Family Prayer. We were not perfect but we would typically do this morning and night. I remember that we would be running late in the morning and the bus was going to come at any moment, and we would still have family prayer. Sometimes my Dad would say the prayer, and it was a little longer. In my mind I would think, "Dad we are going to miss the bus!" But it created a culture in our family. We tried to put the Lord first in our lives. When I talk to other people I know some have this way of life also, and then there are others who do not.
Another part of our family culture was work. We worked ever since we were little. In our family it became an enjoyable thing at times, and some of our most precious memories come from working together as a family. It taught us responsibility. One thing that we did was raised baby cows. This was quite the experience. I remember getting up early in the mornings before school to feed the baby cows and change pipes. They were not the easiest tasks, but they had to be done. We had to make their pens with straw bales and a slab of wood, and then a wire fence. At one point we had around 70 baby calves. We had to bottle feed them until they reached a certain age/size, and then we taught them to eat grain. The most dreaded job was cleaning out their pens. We took shovels, scooped out the manure, and the molding straw, load it in the wheel barrow, and dump it. The smell was horrible. We worked together (my siblings and I) to accomplish the task. At one point we had to work the cows (castrate them). These Angus cows were very stubborn, and they tended to bring out the worst in us. One cow was supper stubborn and would not go in the shoot. My brother got frustrated so he decided to jump on the cow (my brother played center in football so he was pretty big). It was the funniest thing, he jumps on the cow, and then he just landed in the manure. We all just started laughing. The time we worked together allowed us to really come close to one another. We learned important lessons, such as how to work hard, being reliable, obedience, patience, respect etc. I am so grateful that my parents entrusted us to do this work.
Talking to my parents recently I found that many of these things they had us do were not really financially beneficial to them. They provided work for us so that we could grow as individuals. I love this because it shows that we can decide the type of culture we want in our families. We do not need to wait for those opportunities to come to us, but sometimes we may need to create those opportunities ourselves. For us these things were a normal way of life. When I tell people about how I grew up, and what I did it is so foreign to them. Even now I forget sometimes that what we did is not what most people experience in their families. All families have such different cultures and are good in different ways. We can and should learn from each other. We can work to have a good family culture, and also be understanding of others. As we recognize that others grew up differently than us, it will enable us to be more understanding of why they do the things they do.
One thing we did growing up was Family Prayer. We were not perfect but we would typically do this morning and night. I remember that we would be running late in the morning and the bus was going to come at any moment, and we would still have family prayer. Sometimes my Dad would say the prayer, and it was a little longer. In my mind I would think, "Dad we are going to miss the bus!" But it created a culture in our family. We tried to put the Lord first in our lives. When I talk to other people I know some have this way of life also, and then there are others who do not.
Another part of our family culture was work. We worked ever since we were little. In our family it became an enjoyable thing at times, and some of our most precious memories come from working together as a family. It taught us responsibility. One thing that we did was raised baby cows. This was quite the experience. I remember getting up early in the mornings before school to feed the baby cows and change pipes. They were not the easiest tasks, but they had to be done. We had to make their pens with straw bales and a slab of wood, and then a wire fence. At one point we had around 70 baby calves. We had to bottle feed them until they reached a certain age/size, and then we taught them to eat grain. The most dreaded job was cleaning out their pens. We took shovels, scooped out the manure, and the molding straw, load it in the wheel barrow, and dump it. The smell was horrible. We worked together (my siblings and I) to accomplish the task. At one point we had to work the cows (castrate them). These Angus cows were very stubborn, and they tended to bring out the worst in us. One cow was supper stubborn and would not go in the shoot. My brother got frustrated so he decided to jump on the cow (my brother played center in football so he was pretty big). It was the funniest thing, he jumps on the cow, and then he just landed in the manure. We all just started laughing. The time we worked together allowed us to really come close to one another. We learned important lessons, such as how to work hard, being reliable, obedience, patience, respect etc. I am so grateful that my parents entrusted us to do this work.
Talking to my parents recently I found that many of these things they had us do were not really financially beneficial to them. They provided work for us so that we could grow as individuals. I love this because it shows that we can decide the type of culture we want in our families. We do not need to wait for those opportunities to come to us, but sometimes we may need to create those opportunities ourselves. For us these things were a normal way of life. When I tell people about how I grew up, and what I did it is so foreign to them. Even now I forget sometimes that what we did is not what most people experience in their families. All families have such different cultures and are good in different ways. We can and should learn from each other. We can work to have a good family culture, and also be understanding of others. As we recognize that others grew up differently than us, it will enable us to be more understanding of why they do the things they do.
Application: Discuss one aspect of your family culture with someone.
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