My whole life can be summed up in one word. Multiculturalism. Everything that have accomplished revolves around it. I owe it all to my father. Being a sociologist, he believes that the mind might be restricted if only exposed to one culture. Which is why he takes me along on many of his research trips. I have accompanied my father to 14 different countries and have seen a variety of cultures, which all seem so extreme when placed next to each other. Not only do I experience the culture by being there. My father would always encourage me to do research on everything from bus routes to historical backgrounds of the area’s well-known sites. Then he would always ask me to lead the way around to places by public transportation. By that I learned that not everyone think the same way; in order to achieve a goal, there are plenty of routes to get there, and that’s what different cultures display. In order to observe and keep track of the details of the cultural differences, my father would encourage me to keep a journal. He even published a book on his own observation of me observing.
From trips, I saw and experienced the more pronounced variations of each culture.
It was from schools did I have the opportunity to spend longer periods of time apprehending the people from a completely different cultural background than mine.
I suppose having been in contact with so many different cultures led me to bboying, a type of dance under the Hip Hop culture, which is all cultures put together in one. The dance itself is a sign of peace, love, unity, and having fun. It is also the only kind of dance that allows people to compete aggressively without any physical contact. Anyone can practice it, doesn’t matter where you are from, what you do, even if you are disabled. There are no right way of doing things, there are no advantages, everyone starts at zero and work their way up, there are no limits. I really fell for this dance, because each culture has it’s own restrictions and rules, and bboying is telling us to do whatever we want to do, as long as we are all in harmony with each other.
Another extreme cultural experience for me up to this point was entering the military. Under the protection of my parents my whole life, I never understood how different I was from others. Not only did I realize that people from the same country can be so diverse, let alone different cultures, but also the importance of freedom. I lived in a different world compared to most people, and I never really realized that before I entered the military. The military is what the majority actually is. I was far more fortunate than I ever imagined. The military is the first time into the real world for me, so I had to adjust to the situation, it was the only place I couldn’t just leave. There I was taking orders and realizing for the first time that people can come from such different environments, and yet, we can still all live and work together.
The most important personal quality of mine is my love for animals. I have always loved animals since I was young. After being being aware of many different cultures, I realized that many of us humans don’t have enough respect for our fellow creatures. The truth is that we can’t live without them; without them, we wouldn’t have become who we are today. Throughout my life, there is nothing I love more than to care for them, to see them as an equal, and to try and understand them. Which lead me up to explore my passion much further by studying it as a major in UC Davis.
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