Culture...

Something we talked a lot about this week in class was culture, and it's really gotten me thinking. So first of all, what is culture? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary culture is "a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization" - or "the characteristic features of everyday existence." Culture is extremely diverse. It is different from nation to nation, state to state and even family to family. But it's significant because culture is what every day is made of, and it's always changing because we're always changing.As we go through life and begin to form our own families we also begin to form our own cultures. Each couple will bring different cultures to their marriage. Couples tend to choose the aspects of their family of origin's culture that they want to continue to pass on.
As we go about this process we can consider the question, are all cultures equal in terms of being right and wrong, good or bad? While this may seem like a hard question, I think the answer is relatively obvious.  All cultures have some good and bad aspects. But I believe some are better, and worse, than others. For example, (and this is very generally and broadly speaking) gang culture fosters unity, support, teamwork and often defense. Those are all "good" qualities that we seek to develop in our own relationships and families. But perhaps in a gang they are misdirected, as they are used congruently with violence, hate, abuse and crime; which are "bad" aspects of the same culture. Alternatively, the culture fostered by disciples of Jesus Christ promotes love, service, faith and hope. These are all "good" qualities. But because we are all imperfect, mortal beings these attributes are sometimes tainted with prejudice and judgment which are certainly not good. As I mentioned before, both cultures have positive and negative aspects. But I would be so bold as to say that the culture emulated by Jesus Christ and followed, albeit imperfectly, by his disciples is clearly better than that of a gang. As we seek to develop our own cultures and perhaps to refine our current ones, we should remember that not all cultures are equal and we should strive to incorporate as many "good" qualities into our cultures as we can. So here's to my "some day" family, and all the characteristic features of our (future) everyday existence. I can't wait to see what our culture will be like.