Personal Items that Defined My Culture

While our parents offer themselves to help us grow as civilized human beings, one of the most important things they do is present to us our culture. As a small child, my parents introduced me to the world, and what a wonderful place it can or can’t be. Different traditions were taught to me throughout my years and these developed into the fundamental ideas for my lifestyle and culture. The idea of culture that we all share is extremely complex, so it is hard to define any parts of it without the use of symbolism. In order to define my culture, I selected three objects to represent me and my culture in a broad spectrum. However odd these objects may seem, I chose an aluminum ring, a computer and a Christmas stocking. These particular items have impacted me greatly; they have influenced my life forever. Hence my ring, stocking and computer represent me and my ever developing culture.

The first object I selected to represent myself was an aluminum ring I made in metals class; I chose it because of the significance it holds. Over the years, my development as a person has led me to love engineering and its sisters, science and mathematics. This ring was formed within the Metals-working lab at Rocky; in fact, Metals has come to be one of the most exciting classes I have taken. To make this ring, we used the metal lathe and spent hours laboring in order to perfect it. This ring is so significant to me mainly because it represents my love of engineering as well as all of the knowledge and skills making this ring provided to me. Mathematics specifically has recently grown to be a large part of my daily life, given how I practice it every single day in Calculus. The entire concept of theoretical mathematics has been an amazing thing to lear...

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...and child-like wonder. Ever since, these traditions have remained steadfast, and have turned out to be one of the best parts of the year for me. While both encompassing my faith and holiday traditions, my Christmas stocking is a perfect representation of my culture.

If anyone were to try to define their culture with simply one word, I would chuckle to myself and know that the task is impossible. Culture, as I defined it, has to be the entire representation of one’s self and how that relates with his/her life. While not representing my culture in its entirety, I chose the three most meaningful elements of my culture and represented them with the ring, computer and stocking. These items are not only symbols, but priceless with their deeper meanings to me. Had it not been for the existence of these objects, my culture would not be the same, and I would not be myself.