My Family Culture

Imagine the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.


A description of the three items you would choose.
I would choose my bible, it is pocket-sized and filled with highlighted passages; a photo album with pictures of my friends and family and a necklace that my mother gave me.


How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you.
My bible is very important to me, it is the word of God and I have had it for many years. Through reading it I have developed a closer relationship with God. The photo album would help me to remember specific people and events that occurred in my life and be thankful for the time I spent with them. My necklace would serve as a constant reminder of my mother, it would be of sentimental value to me.


Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you.
If this were the case I would be very sad but I would keep my bible and give up the rest.


Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise.

I am very sentimental, things mean more to me if they were given to me by a friend or family member. In my family culture we see the need to own certain things but we do not place a particularly high value on things. Individuals and families are so diverse that perhaps nobody would choose the exact three same things.