Project 365 Day 16: Cultural Values

Russian Customs Form

Look at item 3.4 in the customs form. Not sure what the Russians were getting at. Maybe that people visiting their country must leave their cultural values at the border? LOL. Not a bad description of what it's like to make one's home in a foreign culture.

According to Wikipedia, "Values are an integral part of every culture. Along with worldview and personality, they generate behavior. Being part of a culture that shares a common core set of values creates expectations and predictability without which a culture would disintegrate and its members would lose their personal identity and sense of worth. Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, constructive...etc. They answer the question of why people do what they do. Values help people solve common human problems for survival. Over time, they become the roots of traditions that groups of people find important in their day-to-day lives."

Living in a foreign culture exposes cultural values. Mysterious behaviors, unpredictability, and conflicting expectations abound. It's good for me to examine my cultural values, to ask why I do what I do, and to put myself in the shoes of someone different than me to examine why he acts the way he does. It's a strange and wonderful journey.