Family Traditions and Separations

It is vital for certain cultures and traditions to be familiarized among family members and in some cases expected in the hands of future generations, but not all traditions should be practiced just because it is passed down from previous generations. However, I have always believed in making your own individual cultural identity separate from what family members try to encourage you to be.  

As a child, nor my family or myself have never exactly knew the true cultural practices from actual African descendants in our family heritage, but in contrary we have tried to form our own identity. Nearly everyone in my family that I know of enjoy reading books and solving puzzles and try to pass this culture down to future generations in order for them to benefit from it as well. Even though these to activities can benefit you, I never like doing either because I considered it boring and I could never sit down in one spot for long periods of time doing one activity. I have grown out of that habit but I still rarely read books and solve puzzles on my own time.

A way I try to follow my family traditions is by attending a family reunion or gathering that my family always has in the middle of summer. During this time, we celebrate by lighting fireworks, singing songs, enjoying music, playing games, and conversing with each other. This way we can all bind different personalities and characteristics together and celebrate them in an honorable fashion so that everyone can feel grateful and feel acknowledged in replacement from the long period of time that we spend away from each other.

My family is full of ingenious minds and intelligence, but as kids, my parents and other close family members, were all siblings of many other brothers and sisters. In result, their families were practically poor and were never given the opportunity to attend college. Instead they worked several hours a day trying to fend for a way to earn money in order to help support there families. In this case, I will be the only one out of few in my family to attend a four year university and to grasp and take advantage of the opportunity they were never given.

I try not to take for granted the advice that my parents give me because I know that they have developed great wisdom through many of the experiences they have gone through. I trust them in the fact that they only want the best possible future outcome for so that I receive the success that was never in any chance offered to them.