Personal Narrative: My Cultural Identity

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My cultural Identity consists of many different things that are very different yet very comparable to other cultures around the world. Some may say my culture is insane, some may say it is lame, and some may say it is perfect. But I see my cultural identity as my own set of rules and participation that I choose to follow. Even though my cultural background says otherwise by including certain rules and traditional ways of doing things such as weddings, funerals, etc. these are just some things that I do not agree with and would rather stick to my own way of doing things based on my perspective on life.
For example, my dad’s side of the family is the Hmong culture. In this culture people grew up being taught that they were not allowed to date …show more content…

My parents influence me in many ways but at the same time not everything they do and say is something I agree with. For example, my parents believe that education, and having a high paying job is one of the biggest priorities in life for me. These are all great things to do but I am not going to be the typical asian daughter who is perfect and maintains high grades while obeying everything her parent says. When other families look at me my dad never wants me to do anything that will embarrass the family or cause gossiping to occur about me. I have to follow rules, I have to be mannerful, I have to do things correctly, I have to do this, I have to do that. The situation does not get any more stereotypically asian than this. But from my perspective on cultural identity I believe that there is room for mistakes. I will live my life in the path that I choose for myself to follow in the order that I want it to go, not my parents order. And with the whole “embarrassment” deal, I believe that people are going to talk about me regardless if I am perfect or not so I might as well do what makes me happy in life.
In addition to how I want to live my life, I believe that most hmong cultural rules and traditions are unimportant and I do not wish to apply some of them to my life. Unlike my grandparents and other elderly relatives, I choose not to cling on to traditional ways

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