Saturday, January 19, 2013

Fleeing the country and all I could take was...

When thinking of what three items I would take if I had to leave my country it was extremely difficult. It is probably really easy to over think this question. What is necessary, what can I not live without, what matters the most to me? I believe I am going to cheat just as little. For one item I am including all five of my children's baby books. These books include photos since their birth, stories, crafts, every little tidbit of information as their mom I never want to forget. The next item I would take is a cement buffalo. The buffalo is the size of small child's shoe box. It is painted, and looks like a buffalo laying on the grass. It is pretty heavy considering it is made out of cement. All of my grandparents died when I was very young, and this buffalo was my grandmothers, so no matter how old or ugly it is, I still have it sitting in my bedroom by dresser. The third item I would take would be a picture of my husband and I on our wedding day. We were married in the Catholic church and again on the beach in Mexico. The picture is of us on the beach in our wedding attire.I believe my explanation of these three items would be that I value family and my relationships the most. I believe that this is how I define myself. These items represent what is most important to me; love, happiness, family and those relationships. If I were told upon arrival I could only take one item instead of all three I would be devastated, however, my family would still be with me and I believe that the memories will still be with my and new memories can be made. For me hands down the item I would take would be my children's baby books. While I make the books to remember and reflect upon, which is for me. Ultimately they are gifts for them when they are older to keep and remember as well. I feel this is how I can teach them part of their culture, traditions, and self -identification.  While doing this exercise I realized that as we have examined surface culture, dominant culture, and family culture the most important to me is family culture. While I would miss many things about the United States, nothing came to mind that I couldn't live without that reflect dominant culture of the United States or surface culture. Looking back I could have taken a flag or a religions symbol, but those things didn't even come to mind until after the fact. 

3 comments:

  1. Mandy,
    Thank you for your post. I do not have children but I know how important children are so I don't think it is cheating to take all five of their babybooks. I agree that famiy culture is the most important although I know that I am guilty of thinking about surface culture a little too often.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mandy, I think that your baby books should definitely count as one item and then you can count my loaded i-pad as one item. I found it difficult to identify items that represented the relationships that I treasure that also represent my family culture. After reading your post I may go back and add a picture of my grandmother walking through the orchard carrying a metal bucket. My great grandparents on both sides of the family were homesteaders and the work ethic and family values stem from their struggles to cultivate new land.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mandy,

    I didn't think of anything symbolic of the American culture as a whole either, such as a flag. I am a relationship person also and would miss those connections more than anything about the United States specifically. The spirit of America would live on through all our host countries new immigrants.

    ReplyDelete