Imagine the following:
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.
Blog about all of the following:
Blog about all of the following:
- A description of the three items you would choose
- How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you
- Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you
- Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise
The first item I would bring is our box of family photo albums. This would be something we could always look back on to help remember the big and little special moments we had in the past. The second item I would bring is our video camera to help us preserve new memories. We could use it to take videos and pictures of our new experiences and make new memories. The third item would be a collection of family recipes. Everyone in our family gave my husband and I their favorite family recipe in a beautiful box as part of our wedding gifts. This is something we can pass on to our children to help represent how food played a role in our family culture.
If I was told upon arrival I could only keep one of the items, I would be devastated. It would not bother me to give up the video camera, but I would not be able to choose between the family photos or recipes. They both mean so much to our family.
This assignment made me realize what things are truly important to my family and what we could not live without.
I agree that it would be easier to part with a video camera than pictures or recipes that you hold dear. If I were in your shoes, I would likely choose to keep the pictures over the recipes. I think it would truly devastate me to get rid of a whole box of family memories. But that is a very very difficult decision to make. Hopefully we will never have to face a tough decision like the one prompting this assignment this week.
ReplyDeleteCaitlyn
I found the family pictures and recipes to be interesting choices. Family pictures will help us recall and relive our past events and memories and the recipes are part of our traditions and identity. I enjoyed reading your post.
ReplyDeleteThe video camera was a neat idea and speaks to you as a family historian....I am assuming that is a role that you take within your family. I am certainly the family historian. I also chose family albums to ensure that the history of our family would live through the generations. Have you ever tried shutterfly.com and their photo album software? It is so easy and a great way to showcase the family pictures.
ReplyDeleteFamily pictures are memories that we physically keep. There are no better pictures like a "flashback." When you go back to all your memorable events, and you can remember details. I agree with you. Taking family pictures with you is the only way you can preserve a memory even if something good or bad happens.
ReplyDeleteLeigh,
ReplyDeleteIf the assignmeent mention that could have said four items, my fourth item would have been definitely the photo album because pictures are worth a million word, memories and full of love. It is crazy how the items we chose are items that are really necessities from our heart. I one day want to hear more about your family culture!