Living in America:
Living in America is not as amazing as many people
believe it to be. Everything is bigger and better, but compared to other
countries; it appears that we prioritize material culture far more than
non-material culture.
As seen with the chart below-
American Values
vs. Other Cultures’ Values
Personal control/responsibility
vs. Fate/destiny
Change seen as natural/positive/Progress vs.
Stability/tradition
Time and its control
vs. Human Interaction
Equality/fairness
vs. Hierarchy/rank/status
Individualism/independence/freedom vs. Group
welfare/dependence
Self-Help/initiative
vs. Birthright/inheritance
Competition
vs. Cooperation
Future orientation
vs. Past orientation
Action/work
vs. “Being”
Informality
vs. Formality
Directness/openness/Honesty
vs. Indirectness/ritual/”face”
Practicality/efficiency
vs. Idealism/theory
Materialism/Acquisitiveness
vs. Spiritualism/detachment
Achievement/Success
vs. Acceptance/Status Quo
Morality/judgment
vs. Consequentialism/situational ethics
In
class we watched Tuesdays With Morrie, which exhibited many of these values we
have seemed to prioritize over others. The main character, Mitch was engrossed
with his job leaving no time for his girlfriend, friends, or family. He spent
all of his time traveling to find information for his column, putting a strain
on his relationship with his girlfriend, leading to an unwanted breakup and
realization that he needed to set his prioritize straight. After seeing that
Morrie, was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he made it a precedence to spend
some time with him. Doing so exposed him to Morrie's values (unordinary to the
US), which encompassed the importance of family, spirituality, acceptance, etc. He reconized his wrong doings and was able to fix the issues with work and his girlfriend. Mitch before Morrie is what a majority of Americans lives are like, we are so
focused on money and work that we hardly leave time for anything that is truly
important. I observed America's skewed values, but never thought about it very deeply. This movie made me want to change my everyday concerns that wont matter years from now and focus on my family and friends.
Good for you Euna. You want to know a secret? In years from now, you will still want to value family and friends. Better to make them a part of your big rocks sooner rather than later.
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