Shaped by Society

Family is the biggest influence on the people we are. Not just the environment we grow up in, but the way our parents treat us. We learned that something as simple as the type of job our parents have can determine what mindset we have - conforming or being inovative. Whie family is obviously not the only thing that shapes us, it is one of the biggest components to who we are and how we act.
Personally, I've seen that sports teams impact my life in a positive way. Joining cross country not only forced me to push myself harder than ever before, but it opened my eyes to what a team is. These guys pushed EACHOTHER. The key to a good cross country team is having a strong top 5 runners that motivate eachother to drive through hard practices and succeed in meets. I think this environemt taught me about teamwork and how important the encouragement of others is.

We're Tuesday People

This week in soc class we watched Tuesday's with
Morrie a story about a dying soc teacher who's talking to his former student, Mitch, about the meaning in life and that you "don't know how to live until you know how to die." We learn from Morrie that death isn't something we should be sad about, it's just a transition and that relationships go on. The norms of our culture teaches us that mourning involves a lot of sadness and rememberance. Morrie tried to teach Mitch that death isn't something to fear. Grief on thr other hand is something everyone feels, even Morrie sometimes feels the sadness of his dying. Morrie also talks about dependence as something we shouldn't be ashamed of.

The American Culture

This week we explored the idea of the American culture. The default answer is were a culture composed of many other cultures, a melting pot of you will. But a better anology is a salad bowl that still has individual components but as a whole the pieces make a whole. I think the American culture is about inovation and change and the pursuit of something better. We try so hard to be our best and move up in the world that this actually defines who we are as a people. In my own life, our Stevenson culture reflects the American values of hard work and doing your best in order to get into a good school, get a degree, find a good job and "make it" in the world.