My Family Culture

The three items I would bring with me that represent my family culture would be my bible, a DVD full of pictures of my family, and a package of mixed garden seeds. My bible is the foundation of my family, my husband and I have built our lives around the belief held within its content.   It is our guide to daily living and is a source of strength that has helped us through tough times and given us inspiration.  The DVD is memories of our own childhood and the important people we have in our lives, as well as our children and grandchildren, it would be a way to remember those we love whom we cannot be with.  The seeds are a representation of my past and present, I love to garden and once upon a time it is what kept food on our table during the tough times in our lives.  Gardening is a passion I have passed down to my daughters.  They both love to garden and harvest fresh vegetables and fruit.

As I thought about only being allowed to keep one item, it really was not that difficult.  At first I struggled thinking how sad it would be not to have two items but I knew two items would remain in my heart and two could be replaced.  For example the DVD pictures cannot be replaced, but I have the memories in my heart and mind.  The bible and seeds can be replaced, but my bible has dates about important events in my life and the lives of our children.  I could write them down somewhere and when I got to the place I would be staying find a place to put them. 

I think the greatest struggle was between my bible and the DVD, because would if I couldn’t replace my bible or would if the country didn’t allow bibles within the country how would I handle this, I already know I would find a way to smuggle it in.  In the end I realized I would choose my bible because it is the greatest evidence of my family culture.  Everything else is materials that would not go beyond this earth and they pale in comparison to my faith.

This exercise really made me think about my family culture and frankly I struggled trying to figure out what I would bring because I don’t really think about my family in this way.  So I needed to really evaluate my family and what it is about them that means the most and what makes us a family that we all feel vested in.  What I didn’t realize was that I take my religious freedom for granted, and when I started to think about scenarios that could happen I realized just how important my faith is to me and my husband. We both talked about this assignment and agreed we would risk our lives to keep our bibles and faith with us. It was quiet sobering to consider.