The Way Life Teaches: Innocence to Experience
Growing up I have come across various individuals, experiences and situations that will forever hold significance for me. These individuals, experiences and situations are/have been my playing field. Professor Camelot defines playing field as “Our playing field is the situation we are born into and how it affects us. It is the tools we have to work with in our lives or what we have available to us and the specific consequences this has on us” (3). One of the most vital aspect of my playing field is my family. Moreover, my playing field has changed several times since I moved to different countries, schools, made new friends, neighbors etc. The fact that I had to move a lot at a young age, affected …show more content…
I believe a persons’ family, caretakers, or guardians, etc. can drastically influence a person’s beliefs, personality, faith, principles, etc. My family which is a nuclear family, has played a major positive influence in my life. My parents have a successful marriage and have been married for 21 years now, however, they’ve had several hurdles in their married life. The way my parents handled these problems taught me one of the greatest lessons, i.e. compromise is key to having a successful relationship with someone as long as these are reasonable cases. The theory of Structural Functionalism applies to my family in the sense that each member of my family has predefined roles that we abide by and in a way, my parents have an egalitarian marriage since they have divided their work equally – for instance my father takes care of his business and my mother takes care of her real estate work, and at home they alternatively cook food, do laundry etc. The fact that this worked out so well for my parents, I think it is a sensible way of dividing work and avoiding conflict. Moreover, one of the reasons my parents have a successful marriage apart from actually liking each other is the belief in marriage as a vital institution which is an …show more content…
Since my family has an Arab and Indian background, I had been exposed to both cultures to an extent. Moreover, they played a vital role in shaping my values, norms, faith and beliefs. However, when I traveled to India for the first time I experienced a culture shock. Since India is a pretty massive country and is highly diverse with varying religions, cultures, food, languages, etc. depending on the state, I was dumbfounded to see this. Moreover, my parents tried to develop a feeling of gratefulness in me by showing me how poverty stricken people live in India. The wide gap between the rich driving in luxurious cars and living in huge mansions contrasted by those dying out of starvation startled me. This gap is fostered by the strong belief of the caste system in India where the lower caste originally known as “the untouchables” are still largely poor while the upper class mainly the “Brahmins” are richer. To this day I remember the image of 3-4 year olds running around by the road side and looking for food in the dumpster while their mothers collect plastic bags to make money. Conflict theory applies to this situation which states, “Conflict theorists view social structure as inherently unequal, based on power differentials related to issues like class, gender, race, and age” (Introduction 71). It helped develop sympathy in me towards them and a
Growing up I have come across various individuals, experiences and situations that will forever hold significance for me. These individuals, experiences and situations are/have been my playing field. Professor Camelot defines playing field as “Our playing field is the situation we are born into and how it affects us. It is the tools we have to work with in our lives or what we have available to us and the specific consequences this has on us” (3). One of the most vital aspect of my playing field is my family. Moreover, my playing field has changed several times since I moved to different countries, schools, made new friends, neighbors etc. The fact that I had to move a lot at a young age, affected …show more content…
I believe a persons’ family, caretakers, or guardians, etc. can drastically influence a person’s beliefs, personality, faith, principles, etc. My family which is a nuclear family, has played a major positive influence in my life. My parents have a successful marriage and have been married for 21 years now, however, they’ve had several hurdles in their married life. The way my parents handled these problems taught me one of the greatest lessons, i.e. compromise is key to having a successful relationship with someone as long as these are reasonable cases. The theory of Structural Functionalism applies to my family in the sense that each member of my family has predefined roles that we abide by and in a way, my parents have an egalitarian marriage since they have divided their work equally – for instance my father takes care of his business and my mother takes care of her real estate work, and at home they alternatively cook food, do laundry etc. The fact that this worked out so well for my parents, I think it is a sensible way of dividing work and avoiding conflict. Moreover, one of the reasons my parents have a successful marriage apart from actually liking each other is the belief in marriage as a vital institution which is an …show more content…
Since my family has an Arab and Indian background, I had been exposed to both cultures to an extent. Moreover, they played a vital role in shaping my values, norms, faith and beliefs. However, when I traveled to India for the first time I experienced a culture shock. Since India is a pretty massive country and is highly diverse with varying religions, cultures, food, languages, etc. depending on the state, I was dumbfounded to see this. Moreover, my parents tried to develop a feeling of gratefulness in me by showing me how poverty stricken people live in India. The wide gap between the rich driving in luxurious cars and living in huge mansions contrasted by those dying out of starvation startled me. This gap is fostered by the strong belief of the caste system in India where the lower caste originally known as “the untouchables” are still largely poor while the upper class mainly the “Brahmins” are richer. To this day I remember the image of 3-4 year olds running around by the road side and looking for food in the dumpster while their mothers collect plastic bags to make money. Conflict theory applies to this situation which states, “Conflict theorists view social structure as inherently unequal, based on power differentials related to issues like class, gender, race, and age” (Introduction 71). It helped develop sympathy in me towards them and a