Seven (Blog 9)

This week in class we talked about different socializing agents, such as family, friends, and neighborhoods, and how the society we live in shapes who we are. One of the biggest socializing agents, especially for teenagers, is friends. I would agree that my fiends and the people that I choose to surround myself with are a huge influence on who I am. Whether I realize it or not, I constantly take on the qualities from my friends. Obviously, the reason that I became friends with certain people is because I like them so, it seems natural that I would take aspects that I admire in my friends and mimic them in myself. It can come from something as simple as music or fashion. I can tell that when I hang out with friends that dress more casual, I am more likely to wear sweatpants, while when I hand out with someone that dresses up more, I will definitely step it up in my style. Apart from that, morals are the most valuable thing that rub off from your friends onto you. Truthfully, if I had friends that drank or did drugs, I would probably too. Luckily, I surround myself with people that don't. I am very happy to say that I have good friends that I enjoy being around and only influence me in good ways.

Six

The discussion that our class had this week over American values got me thinking. I noticed that a low of the values that were mentioned such as personal control over the environment, change, individuality, time, and materialism, all connected to one another.

 I want to start by saying that one thing that really struck me was the idea that America lacks tradition. Because America is obsessed with always having the next best thing and constantly trying to get ahead (both individually through material values and generally as a world power), America sees the old as negative and doesn't value traditions. Personally, my parents are relatively new immigrants to America. While I do consider myself to be "American", I grew up with a lot of Russian/Ukrainian traditions. Participation in these traditions made me feel closer to my family and more aware of who I was as a person. So maybe American's lack tradition because they don't realize how important it is?

While that maybe true, another thought came to me. There are a lot of other families throughout the country that follow their own native traditions. Maybe we just don't have a common tradition? I feel that my parents don’t try to make friends with people who are not Russian or Ukrainian. Not that that’s bad, it doesn’t help with being socially mindful though. But it is difficult to understand and empathize with people who have different traditions and backgrounds. It makes sense to connect and be close to people that are similar to yourself. Maybe that is why America lacks tradition as a whole, because we are a "salad bowl". We all individually practice our own traditions but don't have a strong common uniting force. Could that explain why we respect the individual so much? because America grew up lacking a community?

Basically, this past week really opened my eyes and made me think why American culture is the way it is.