Customs and awareness
Some of us mostly inherited the customs of a single place, while others grew into more than one culture.
In our globalized world anybody can believe to be free from their origins, a perception favoured by access to worldwide mass media and the Internet. But, are we really sure that technological connection is enough to make us able of interacting properly with people who have a very different background than ours? Are we truly certain of having the necessary open-mindedness and self-awareness to get out of mental schemes so familiar they escape our conscious attention?
It happened to me, almost by chance, to watch videos that foreigners made on Italian culture. Before taking a look at them, I thought I was objective about Italian customs, but I had been wrong. Thanks to those videos, I had an epiphany: there are so many daily habits we think are understandable and common to anybody in the world, whereas they’re not. What’s more, in Italy – for how small of a Country – there are incredibly diverse customs from region to region, even from town to town.
In sum, I’ve become aware of the fact that – despite individual freedom – there are always in us some cultural influences that elude our control. It can be our accent, our eating habits, our aesthetic preferences, our body language etc. Setting aside stereotypes, nobody seems to be totally immune from all that, even if great change is possible.
What’s your opinion about this? Have you ever seen anybody totally freeing themselves from any cultural influx on their way of thinking, behaving and communicating? Do you believe that it’s even right to have such a goal? Or do you think that cultural diversity is a value to preserve?
Since I believe in reaching a common ground, I’d like to hear your thoughts on this subject, also in the light of what you know, directly or indirectly, about Italian culture.