My Cultural Attitude to Meredith Essay Example

about school and success. They never discussed her personal life or her mental health, at least not in front of me. When it comes to the relationship I have with my mother, we talk about everything. We talk about what’s going on with classes, my relationships, friendships, and my job.

After talking with Meredith frequently, she started to open up about her culture and was open to my questions. I asked her what life was like back home and how different topics were viewed. She told me that her relationship with her family was very close and that education was extremely important because she was from a very poor part of town. Her family understood the importance of her education and gave up a lot of their own lives to make sure she was able succeed in hers. After she explained her life to me, I felt like I had a new perspective on her and her culture.

Every day she would make rice, the core part of her diet, and cook some native Filipino food. She offered some of the deserts to me many times and the first one I tried was a variety of foods mixed together. According to Adoption Nutrition, there are three principles of cooking Filipino foods; no food should be cooked by itself, fry in lard or olive oil with garlic, and the foods should have a “sour-cool-salty taste” (Adoption Nutrition, 2012). Due to the types of foods consumed, there is a high percentage of people with heart disease and obesity. According to The Borgen Project, the health care services are unfair to the poor, and many do not receive basic health

care needs.

The mortality rates for mothers and newborns are high; although the fertility rate is also high (Kenworthy, Katelynn, 2018). Another topic Adoption Nutrition introduced was the importance of family and the respect given to elders. I was able to see this on move in day. Both of our families were there to help us get settled in, this included my mother and father and her mother, father and little brother. Her little brother was only two years old and already understood the importance of respect.

He continued to grab my father’s hand and place it on his own forehead. My dad just played along and let him do it because he thought he was just playing. Later on, Meredith’s mother noticed he was doing this and explained that when around elders, placing their hand on the young person's forehead was a sign of respect. Learning about the difference in the way we live and how our cultures are both unique to each other was an eye opener. I learned how everyone is completely different, unique and special in their own way; also, how amazing each of us are. Experiencing this made me see how society views someone who’s not identical to the majority.

If someone is different, they are pushed out, shamed, or made to feel unwelcomed or looked at in a different way. Why? Because we were taught that way? It’s time for everyone to open their eyes and see what’s wrong with society. The time isn’t now; it was yesterday.