Tradition and culture is a way of life for many people, as it helps construct the foundation for people’s values, beliefs, and choices. Ethics, values and morals are elements that we are not born with but are taught or guided by our grandparents, family, friends and most important our parents. My learned beliefs from my parents are a strong work ethic, the importance of honesty and being self-reliant. In the paragraphs to follow I will relate to the core values of hard work/work ethic, honesty and self-reliance that have impacted my learning style and behavior towards humanity. These beliefs helped me as I grew from a child into a young woman. As I matured, these core beliefs became a part of me, which I use in my personal life and will use, in my future professional life.
My parents raised me with many beliefs that have had an effect on who I am today. These beliefs come straight from the values of my family. I believe that woman are intelligent as men, because my mother is a strong woman and my father is a humble man. Our family believes all beings are equal. I was raised to believe that through hard work accompanied by good work ethics one will become successful and have a good life. I strive to do this every day by working hard and focusing on my studies. My mother always stressed the importance of education with my brother and I from a young age. She always stressed on work ethic more than actual marks that we received. In our house, work ethic was a part of our culture and tradition for success. When I think back to my childhood memories of my father, I remember most his thirst for leaning, his reverence for books and the written word. I can picture my father sitting at the dinner room table, my mother always seated to his left talking about the importance of education. This by far has impacted my thirst for knowledge and learning.
Another attribute of values in my household is “Honesty”. The tradition of being truthful, sincere and free from deceit or fraud. When we are dishonest we cheat not only others but ourselves. Honesty is gained when we have respect of others and feel good about ourselves.
My father use to say “Honesty” is like a good weapon in life which benefits us through many advantages and it can be developed naturally without any cost. The creation of an atmosphere of honesty also fosters an environment for self accountability and responsibility, these are the values that I will use in my daily studies.
The most important value that I rely on is self-reliance. This is the ability to rely on your own power and resources and not those of others. Those that do the best in life realize, early on that no one is going to save them. When we rely on ourselves, we become strong. This is the value of self reliance that I practice in my study method. I remember early on in my school days when we had projects to do has a team, that the best way is to do all the work first and then listen to the contribution made by the other team members. This led to me realizing, most of the time they would not do their work. This value of self-reliance has held me well in my schooling and now university.
My values and traditions are important because they help me to grow and develop. They help me to create the future that I want to experience. I believe that a strong cultural identity is important to a persons’ mental health and wellbeing. Having a strong sense of my own cultural history and traditions such as a good work ethic ,the practice of being honest and the independency of being self-reliant has helped me to build a positive identity for my self. This gives me a sense of belonging, self-esteem and supports my overall wellbeing. When we have a strong cultural identity, then we are well placed to make social connections with others and develop a sense of belonging to their community, even if the community’s culture are different to our family culture.
