Cultural Assignment Paper

For my cultural assignment, I went to the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago. Immediately, it felt like I was in a different world. Visually, the biology of the area was without a doubt the Chicagoland area, but the feel was different, it had a spiritual feel to it. The building was beautifully designed. It was unlike anything I had seen with my own two eyes before. The designs on the building were highly intricate and purposeful. It became apparent that the designers wanted no wasted bare space on their buildings and sculptures, with the intent to grab your eye and never allow them to leave, which compliments the spirituality of the location. If you there to worship, they do not want you distracted, you are there to pray and grow. There were many nice little …show more content…
In my family, we are so far removed from any culture beyond American, that we only embrace being American. To us, that is where we are from, that is where our parents are from, and our parent’s parents. Also, we identify in my family that there are many other cultures that are just as valid as ours, so we do not take foolish pride in our culture. Through these experiences of getting to know other people’s culture and my day to day life, I have found that people take lots of pride in where they came from and the culture that molded them. It is hard for me to understand this, because this is something I was raised not to value. But to others, their lineage and culture is what their life revolves around. In my experiences, I found myself a little annoyed at the amount of pride that people took in their cultures and identities. Frankly, I wish people took less pride in their cultures. I believe in such a globablized world, thinking “my culture is the best, and I am unwilling to change” causes there to be distress and hostilities communities. I wish there was less of a focus on what makes people different instead of