Personal Experience: Becoming Cultural Differences

As a child of a US Military veteran, I was fortunate enough to travel and live in different countries since my father was frequently stationed from one place to another. Over time I grew accustomed to moving from one country to another, however, the biggest struggle I faced was when I moved to the Philippines for high school once my father retired from the Navy. Despite being a Filipino-American, I was still faced with discrimination, which I struggled with for years. Another struggle I faced was the language barrier, as I only knew a few basic words at the time, and I constantly experienced problems adjusting to the culture as I was not familiar with the Filipino customs. I was raised as an American and mainly spoke English. I felt lost …show more content…
I had met Filipino friends who were accepting of me and had met other foreigners whom I could relate with. Due to the struggles and pressure I experienced while living there, I was able to grow stronger. Living in the Philippines helped to broaden my perspective due to cultural differences and judgment I went through. It shaped me to become more accepting of others. Now I am proud of who I am as the experiences shaped me into the person I am today and I strongly believe that I have the best of both worlds. After spending my first year of college in the Philippines, my family and I moved back to America. Since moving back to the United States, I have encountered and overcome several personal obstacles which not only affected my personal views and beliefs, but also my goals and overall plan in life. Though I also experienced a few culture clashes from living abroad for six years, I was able to overcome those, too, with the help of old friends and my …show more content…
Many people still dismiss each of these as issues that are not real or are unimportant, however, thousands of Americans and people around the world are struggling with these very issues and not getting the proper, healthy help they need because they are constantly repressed and are feeling invalidated. I believe that by making everyone more aware and accepting of these issues and by fighting for our human rights, we would all be able to make the progressively change country a better place for everyone to live in; and I would love to be one of those people who helped it change for the