A love letter to culture

 

 

Dear culture,

 

 

Growing up with two of you didn’t exactly make it easier. Even though the two cultures that I grew up with are quite close together they still are different in so many ways. Maybe it was the way in which I grew, maybe it’s the way I am or maybe it is something completely different. I guess that is something I’ll never completely know. I’m not only, but also looking at myself in this, because at some points it is or has been a battle with myself as well.

 

 

Audre Lorde once said “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” This goes for many things in life, but also for all the beautiful cultures that inhabit our earth. Maybe that is part of that said internal battle with myself. Feeling too foreign for my home country culture, but too foreign for the other one as well. However, something that really helped me is the consciousness of that the home and the culture that you live in are not only sculptured and made by the people and the environment around you, but also by yourself.

 

 

But culture is beautiful in whichever way you are talking about it. Traditions you can share with so many people and teaching them something that you cherish. As you grow older you start to understand how little you really understand, but you also learn to build and grow into the person you want to be. These past months haven given me personally so much clarity and it really made me realise that big parts of our own personal culture are made by ourself and that sometimes we are the ones who make a mountain out of a molehill.

 

 

Culture contains so much more than what most of us think. Do you know that picture with the iceberg on it? The one that is supposed to show that everything we do in life and all the success we have only has a small part that is really seen and so much more that is happening under the surface. We can recognize the same for culture. There are obvious things that probably everyone would count as part of culture, for example literature, language, traditions, holidays and festivities, food and fine arts. However, there are also things that belong to culture that we might not see at first sight, think about beliefs and assumptions, manners, core values, notions of modesty, humour, gender roles, work ethic, thought patterns, beauty ideals, family values, attitude towards school, self-concept, pride, body language and so on.

 

 

In this whole thing about culture there shouldn’t be any place for judgement. Because just as the saying goes, counting other people’s sins does not make you a saint. Getting to know different cultures or different aspects of cultures you already know makes you wiser, it will inspire you. You’ll will get to know yourself even better and you’ll work on forming your own special culture in a way.

 

 

We often don’t realise it, but our lives are often lived by fear. Maybe we are afraid of doing something wrong, of not understanding or of something completely different. However, it should not stop us to explore new things. We don’t have the choice to live longer, but we have the choice to live deeper. And maybe culture is a combination of many things, maybe it is a combination of what you allow and of what you create.

 

 

All my love,

 

 

Anna