My Family Culture

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture…

First of all, I would take my camera because it has pictures of special moment with all my loved ones on it and I can capture new memories at my new destination. The pictures on my camera would show a lot about my family culture as well.

Secondly, I would take my Kindle because I would be able to read all kinds of books, magazines and the bible to myself and my family, which is really something we enjoy and represents our family culture.  

Third, I would bring my son’s blanky because he has to sleep with it every night and because it’s the blanket he got when he was born. It has his name and birth date on it and it’s as special to me as it is to him.

I would explain the items to others just as I did above. I would also share the items with them. I would show them the pictures and tell them stories that go along with each one. I would also read to them as well.

If I had to choose just one of the 3 items mentioned above, I would be so devastated and torn. I would want to keep the blanky because it is special to my son, however the camera with all my pictures on it would be hard to give up.

When I first began to think about the personal items I would bring, I first thought of things like my laptop, my cell phone, my Ipod. These items I immediately thought of because they can offer so much more and be so very useful when we arrived to our new location. I think what I realized most from this assignment is that the culture of society is very dependent on technology. I was focusing on taking items to keep us busy because those are the items that we use each and every day. However, I recall life before so much technology, when things were a bit simpler and its sad to think my son will never know what that type of life is like.