Page 13 - Corette-May-2022
P. 13

Just What is a“Normal” Background?



                      Repression of cultures affects teens and their identity

                                             By Sophia Mikhail ‘24

          I love my background. I love learning about          else?” Individuality can be lost upon so many
          where I come from. From the history to the           kids who are just trying to fit in, and cultural
          music and dance, my culture is something             expression is no exception.
          I am so incredibly proud of. I wouldn’t                We can do better to make sure no kids ever
          be who I am today without learning and               feel like this. We should do better, because
          embracing where I’m from. However, this              little boys and girls should never have to
          was not always my understanding of my                grow up questioning who they are. They
          identity. I have grown up in areas where a           should never have to grow up feeling alone.
          different culture can be the brunt of a joke,          Individuality is what makes us beautiful.
          something completely out of the ordinary,            These traditions are a part of who we are.
          and, frankly, something I had been embar-               I understand that I am further removed
          rassed about for such a long time.                   from my culture than my parents are, and
            A culture represents not only a rich histo-        my future children will be even further re-
          ry of artistic and religious expressions, but        moved than I am. So, I have to continue
          it more prevalently represents a commu-              learning and being excited about my family
          nity. However, not all people have a great           traditions and history. Without this willing-
          understanding of how or why this should              ness to learn, how could we ever expect to
          be celebrated. The repression of cultures            pass down what we know? How could we
          outside of the Americanized lens of what is          ever continue to embrace our cultural dif-
          ‘normal’ affects young people like us and            ferences? Without appreciating and treating
          their view on their identity into adulthood.         different cultures with the utmost respect,
            In middle school, I began to realize for the  our heritages may not continue to be able to
          first time how close-minded and ignorant             flourish. Otherwise, we may not have been
          some people can be. Whether it be because            studying The Ramayana or The Epic of Gil-
          of privilege or just because of their shel-          gamesh this year. We may have never known
          tered environment, so many kids had no               who Oedipus was or have eaten Japanese Kit-
          clue how to act when they were introduced            Kats. We would live in such a boring world
          to something new. To a lot of other kids,            without learning and appreciating the diver-
          my favorite foods were gross, and my fam-            sity of the people around us.
          ily traditions were weird. Things that I had           We all have a unique cultural history, and it
          once loved so much turned into things I              is something worth celebrating. We can cher-
          wanted to get away from.                             ish each other, learn about each other, and
            Enough of these jokes and laughs made              find great joy in celebrating who we are.
          me start to wonder, “Is my family actually
          weird? Why can’t I just be like everybody









                                                                                                                   13
   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18