Family Culture and Traditions

I studied a little on families of other cultures this week. The dictionary defines culture as "the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group." Families often gain a culture from previous family members. Like tradition, culture is weaved into the lives of family members for generations. 

Every family has their own form of culture, usually passed down from generation to generation. I do believe that every culture has every right to be equally valid (That is as long as it is a culture that doesn't bring danger to others or themselves). Everyone lives their own lives in their own ways. They are accustomed to living that certain way and that is the way they are most effective in raising a family. Everyone should be able to live their own lives they should, as long as they don't do anything to harm others.

There are definitely aspects of some cultures that are flawed. If you are able to identify them, you can choose to keep the part or perpetuate it. If it makes up a big part of who you are and what you stand for, do not get rid of it (obviously). But if it is flawed and it hasn't had played a huge role in your life, it'd be best to let go of that part. 

The culture of the US has been falling to ruins lately. All that we stand for has been crumbling to our feet throughout the years. The "American dream" is slowly dying. Our freedoms in the US was a huge part of our culture and we are losing those freedoms. The citizens of the US have been perpetuating these privileges without us even noticing until it got out of hand. We can't speak our opinion without receiving loads of backlash and hate. No one is able to speak their minds anymore without getting attacked for it. I wish to be able to strengthen the aspect of "freedom of speech" again. It goes along with religious freedom which is also a dying concept. People have begun attacking people who do not agree with their religious beliefs as well. I really wish that we could keep our religious freedom and not have to worry about going to church and getting ridiculed for it. 

As for parts of the US culture that I wish to get rid of, I would like if we fixed our unhealthy eating habits. We have become very accustomed to deep frying almost all of our food, which is really not healthy. I have traveled to many places and everywhere I go, the residents of the area all eat better than we do in the US. 

Traditions are "patterns of belief or behavior" that we have inherited by our past family members. I think the best family traditions are the ones that bring the family closer and make everyone happy. I have a family tradition where I visit my father's parents every other year for Christmas. This keeps a healthy balance between visiting my mother's side of the family and my father's side. However, I do think that there are traditions that may be best to get rid of entirely. Traditions that make others uncomfortable in the family are definitely traditions that should not stay.

Traditions may have to be altered when it comes to a single parent family. You may need to get rid of some aspects of the tradition so that it would be able to suit your family. That isn't always a bad thing though. Sometimes, the altercation may lead to making the tradition better than it was before. This could lead to a whole new variation of the previous tradition.