Teachings of Life

This week in Sociology, we learned about the ways we live in our culture and our potentials. We watched a documentary on a Sociology teacher named Morrie. The narrator used to be one of favorite students and he wanted to say goodbye to him the right way. While he was constantly over at his house, Morrie would teach him the meanings of life every Tuesday. Morrie teaches him that our culture remourses death. Morrie quotes "When we were infants we needed others to live, when we are dying we need others to live, but here's the secret - in between we need others even more." I completely agree with this quote because we don't realize how much we need others while we live, which causes the sense of individualism and isolation. I feel like also distrusting plays a role into individualism because we do not like to rely on others because we learned not to trust anyone but yourself in this society. For example, when given a choice in class to work with a partner for an assignment, I choose to be alone because more than likely I'll be stuck with all the work.

What is this...?

Everyone knows that awkward and uncomfortable feeling they get when they experience something new to them. Just like when someone moves from their homeland, for example like Kenya, and move to the United States. They experience something called Culture Shock. In class, we watched a documentary called "God Grew Tired of Us." It was about a group of Africans moving to America to have an opportunity to escape the war and experience privileges that Americans experience that their home country does not. They were very confused with the different culture and had many questions. For example, they did not know what a shower was or how to use it. They also didn't understand electricity or our stores and foods. They experienced culture shock. Also in class, we learned about American values that we follow. Just like how important time is to Americans. Americans are very concerned with getting things on time and done in detail and precision. Time is so valued because one can accomplish more goals than those who do not. Time=money. For example, my parents need to work a certain amount of hours per week, and if they do not achieve that goal, they'll get fired. It's not worth the stress of being jobless then to do what your supposed too, on time.