Culture Essay

Alejandro Rios
Summer Reading Essay: Culture

Culture, it represents a place and its different types of people that live there. This great varied term can be expressed in many lots of ways. There many definitions to the word culture. One of the definitions we use today is basically what makes up a civilization. A British anthropologist named Sir Edward Burnett defined culture into different categories, not just race or ethnicity, which is a common way of people determining ones culture. Different behavioral patterns include the languages that one group or groups of people speak. Examples include Italian, Spanish, French, Chinese, English, and so on. Language is only one of the many behavioral patterns used to determine ones culture. The culture of oneself or a group of people brings out a specific and unique meaning. Other categories which fall under culture is knowledge, moral, law, beliefs, capabilities, and habits of groups of people living together that differentiate them from other cultures. An example of this situation is the culture of how Arabic people belief in their own distinct god while others believe in different. If everyone was the same than there would be nothing new introduced, such as ideas. It is one of the main tools for survival with others that are different too, but it can also be broken easily because of the fact that culture is not a material; it is a mindset which can easily be influenced or changed by others. Culture is not permanent and it could change at any time as long as it is accepted by the group. Since my family comes from a country of dictatorship, which is Cuba, my instincts is to believe that dictators are bad and should be eliminated or removed from the countries in order to stop suffering. It is also, because I live in a country where there is freedom and democracy. My culture of family and how I treat my parents is with respect and obedience in order to receive back, so that provokes me to be good to my friends too in order “to get what you give”. Also, the food that typical Cubans eat differs majorly from food from countries in South America such as Venezuela and Columbia. The various experiences throughout ones culture changes the view and perception of the world because each one grows up in a different environment. That specific environment is like ones comfort zone, because it is very familiar. Friends from another culture should be able to learn my side of my culture. For this fact, it can be said that the more someone knows the culture of another person, the more expecting they are about them. Also, another category of cultural behavior is the activities the one does. I play any sport at any time, any place, and anywhere. So, because of this, this affects the how express my feelings when playing sports like basketball, football, or baseball. Sports bring out the competitive culture in me, which then could translate to other friends. Without culture there would be no communication or variation throughout the world. The world will be one place with the same habit and the same language. Diversity is needed in order to survive.