The Power of Culture to Create a Better Future

The Power of Culture to Create a Better Future
Every part of the world has its own culture. Culture includes the arts, traditions and customs of a country or region, as well as the wisdom, values, lifestyles and trends of the people living there. In order to build a peaceful world, we need to acknowledge and respect each other's cultures.
Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Today, in the United States as in other countries populated largely by immigrants, the culture is influenced by the many groups of people that now make up the country.
In order to better understand culture, it is useful to closely examine its characteristics and their ramifications. The characteristics of culture are shared; group products; symbolic; learned; patterned; integrated; adaptive; compulsory; cumulative; dynamic and diverse. Culture is learned and is not based on instinct. It is handed down from generation to generation. This is reflected in basic needs. For example what is edible, when the right time and place is to sleep and how to satisfy sexual urges appropriately. Culture is adaptive. We adapt to our environments with tools, boats, houses, growing different foods in different climates, etc. Culture is shared by a group of people in a society and formed through interactions. Culture is integrated/combined and consistent vs. random. For example, hunters using the same techniques time and time again. Culture is symbolic. How people see the world is based on symbols and the meaning behind those symbols. Take religions for instance, they are filled with symbolic meaning. Culture also shapes the way we think about the world gender roles, stereotypes and how we view other cultures.

Culture is important because when the word "culture" is mentioned, we can think of many things as "cultural", such as language, clothing and many more, because we classify cultures of different places. However, culture is so valuable that it has to be kept for thousands of years and passed on by one generation to another. Culture is so important that it is more than its distinct visible features, if we extends this to the inner self of a person, to members within a society, further to the whole community, maybe we can find some answers by finding out how they are affected by culture and also since culture can form invisible bonds between members in the community, this can hold people with the same cultural background together, passing on the values. This propogation of values is can not only transmit culture knowledge and retain the relationship among people, it also builds up a long term tradition after years and years. Culture is strengthened in this way because it can give background and reference to its later generations of its ability of keeping the long-term tradition, gaining the sense of belonging of people to the country of that culture.

Culture is that invisible bond, which ties the people of a community together. It refers to the pattern of human activity. The art, literature, language and religion of a community represent the community's culture. Culture manifests itself through the lifestyle of the individuals of a community. The moral values of the people of a community also represent their culture. The importance of culture lies in its close association with the living of the people. Different cultures of the world have brought in diversity in the ways of life of the people inhabiting different parts of the world. Culture is related to the development of one's attitude. One's culture plays an important role in shaping the principles of the individual's life. The cultural values of an individual have a deep impact on his/her attitude towards life. According to the behaviorist definition of culture, it is the ultimate system of social control where people monitor their own standards and behavior. A community's culture lays the foundation of the living of its people. The cultural values serve as the founding principles of one's life. They shape an individual's thinking and influence his/her mindset. Culture gives an individual a unique identity. The culture of a community gives its people a character of their own. Culture shapes the personality of a community. The language that a community speaks, the art forms it hosts, its staple food, its customs, traditions and festivities comprise the community's culture. The importance of culture cannot be stressed enough as it is an integral part of living.

Every part of the world has its own culture. Culture includes the arts, traditions and customs of a country or region, as well as the wisdom, values, lifestyles and trends of the people living there. In order to build a peaceful world, we need to acknowledge and respect each other's cultures.