This is the genesis of an essay I plan to write over the incoming week. (I’m posting it online more to spur me on in the process than to inform everyone of impending profundity.) The writing and editing of this curriculum spreads good seed in my head; this is part of the Discovering Your Culture session.
Culture is what you make of it; it is no more or less than a collective decision by a group of people to live and continue to live a certain way in a certain place. It is not set in stone; the past does not determine the future. A culture is as alive as the people who live it. It is not wholly a language, religion, music, or dress; these things change and grow over time. Do not become so set in the traditions of your culture that it can never change; a culture needs room to explore its future. It was never one thing and can never be tomorrow what it was yesterday any more than your children will live the life of your grandparents.