BAUTISTA, Danielle L. UTS
BSN 2B
ACTIVITY : MY CULTURAL REFLECTION
Direction: Reflect on the impact of your culture in your self-understanding. Below are sone
guide questions for you.
1. How much of my self is a product of my culture?
2. Am I happy with the influence of my culture to my self-understanding?
3. How do I feel when I disobey what is culturally prescribed to me?
MY CULTURAL REFLECTION
Culture defines people’s values, beliefs, and personal interests. This is important because it
allows people to maintain a unique identity society. Many cultures have common interests, while
others may have customs that differ greatly from that of another. Technology has a huge impact on
present day cultures, because of that many culture have been altered including my own, and some
have been created due to the rise of technology. Cultures differ so greatly that someone belonging to
one culture may not agree with the values of another, which then causes social and ethical issues.
Being part of an Asian culture, I guess puts me in the category of a hospitable and generous
society. We, Ilocanos are known for being stingy, just like in thrift shops if the price is indicated as
10 pesos, we still asked to lower the price for 5 pesos. But when it comes to occasions like wedding,
birthdays, and christenings we offer so much food to people, even if you are not invited you can still
come and join us to celebrate the party. After the party, the visitors can also take out some foods
left. My culture has influenced me into a fast independent type of lifestyle. I choose where I am
going and who I want to be. I believe getting an education, a good paying job are top priorities in
my day and age. Getting married and having kids comes second to education and work. I live to
prove that I can be the best I can be and to get to the top. I am not agreed in some of our beliefs,
traditions, and preferences because it affects the emotion of the person, one of the examples is the
attitude of criticizing people, being talkative sometimes may hurt the people. In my case, since I am
fat and dark, they judge me as a native pig (because its color is dark and fat), and most of the time
the one who leads that action are my relatives and neighbors. But one of thing that I am proud of is
the Ilokano dishes, I went to variety of restaurants such as Japanese, Korean, Mexican or Chinese
foods, Filipino foods are still the best. “DInenddeng” is one of my favorites. “Dinengdeng”, which
is also called "Abraw" or "Inabraw", is a "bagoong" based soup dish made primarily of vegetables
top with grilled or fried fish. Some people don’t like the appearance and aroma of it athirst but when
they taste it, they like to have it in a second time around.
My culture has basically made me who I am, who I will be. I am an independent adult focused
on her education and future career, with hopes of someday getting married and having children, as
long as I am stable first. It has decided how I live. It tells me how I should act in public vs. in
privacy. Without culture I don't think I would know these things nor would I know really how to
live. I am a product of my own culture in pretty much every aspect of my life and until you write
about it, you don't exactly realize how influential culture can be and how oblivious you are to that.
This brings me to the fish out of water metaphor. Which suggests that we wouldn't know what to do
without culture such as a fish doesn't know how to act when it is taken out of water.
