Opinion
 

Culture's meant to be shared

By Stephanie Davis

I know everyone is recovering from the Super Bowl, but let me remind you that Sunday marked the beginning of Black History Month. I am not completely Afro-centric, but I believe that knowing your own culture is vital to developing as a complete individual. Knowing another person's culture makes you more tolerant to differences and more able to understand others.

I am a descendant of slaves. However, my family differs from the pictures found in your average history book. My ancestors were dark-haired Creoles, who originated in Louisiana. They were light-skinned people of color, with Indian and French blood.

In the midst of slavery, lessons were learned. The three important values were respect, religion and education. My 99-year-old aunt, Janie, always says, "The child who receives home and church training and no school training can't reach his full potential in life. The child who receives church and school training and no home training develops into a cruel-mannered individual, insensitive to others' feelings. The child who receives home and school training and no church training stands a chance to lose his own soul."

My family believes God is the head of everything. We were taught that guardian angels were sent to protect and guide us through the toils and snares of life. This belief has helped me have a closer relationship with God. Christianity was my family's primary religion, but a couple of folks in my family practiced Voodoo. They thought that if you buried your husband's drawers in the backyard, he'd never leave you. I never bothered to try any of it because I don't believe in stuff like that, but each to his own.

Along with soul food, wise lessons and God's goodness, we also know how to party. In my culture, music is everywhere. You hear it from musicians singing songs of Zion, from vibrant fingers dancing across the piano's ivory keys and in the beats of hip-hop.

Each time we go to a club, my uncle, J.B., says, "C'est bon" (French for "It's good"). You see hips shaking, hands in the air, the bartender busy making drinks and everybody acting happy.

Unfortunately, throughout the hustle and bustle of American life, culture tends to be wrapped up and tucked away until work is done. TV dinners take the place of family dinners around the table. Elders are no longer respected and God seems to be reserved only for use in bad times. Some tend to think we have become so "Americanized" that we have lost our individuality.

Personally, I think that we have learned to share other Americans' cultures by picking up certain habits, attitudes and interests. It's not like the melting pot theory that says we all blended in to form one, big, American culture. We are more like a patchwork quilt — together we make a wonderful work of art, but alone, each piece is beautiful in its own individual way.

Davis, an editorial writer for The Daily Cougar,
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu.