The overall purpose of this assignment/exercise was to imagine that my country was devastated by a major catastrophe and the emergency management instructed everyone to evacuate to another area. My family and I are only allowed to carry three 3 small items in addition to one pair of clothes. The new country is completely different from the life that we are accustomed and might serve as our permanent location. Follow me on this journey as I share my family culture, significance of the items and the feelings about this new transition.
The objects that I would carry with me on this new journey include: the heavy white family bible, the black family album with pictures from the past and an extra notebook with paper. The family bible was chosen because it has birth dates and detailed family history that I can share with others about my family. The family album supports the information in the family bible and it can be used to store the new memories from the new area. The extra notebook would serve as a journal to document the new life and the new experiences in the new countries.
Life in the new country is a transition and learning the new ways is interesting until we received devastating news that we would have to let go of two personal items. We were slowing adapting but keeping close to our family traditions of meeting and spending time with each other. We tried to make the transition easier by reflecting on the past days and share our new daily experiences with each other. After much deliberation, we decided to part with the pictures and the empty notebook rather than the family bible. The reason that we decided not to part with the bible is because of the family history written in the book and the comfort that the Bible provides in times of distress.
This exercise solidified what I have already come to learn about myself, which is that my family history is very important to me. I would rather let go of all my materialistic belongings than to let go of the information about my family. My mother and grandmother raised me to be proud of the family history whether they were slaves or millionaires that each individual contributed to my family in some form or another. I tried to provide my children with the same experiences and share information about the family through pictures or stories so that they will learn have the same pride that I have about my family. The insights gained about my family culture is that we are unified and very accepting of any or all changes/ challenges that we encounter. The insights gained diversity and cultural differences is that "variety is truly the spice of life". We can learn from each other and enhance each others lives in so many ways because of our background and cultural experiences.
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TaShunda,
ReplyDeleteI loved your post. Turning the assignment into a story made it fun to read. I think it is wonderful that you have that connection to your family bible and family history and can share it with your children.
TaShunda you are the second person that I have read like myself would take the bible. The word is the most important thing we could take. The notebook paper was interesting I never thought of that! Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi TaShunda
ReplyDeleteI too would take the Bible and my photo albums. I feel that those two items are the two irreplacable things in my life and I can see you feel the same. I think the notebook journal is a very clever item to bring. Great idea and post!