How has my culture shaped me?

How has my culture shaped me? It's an interesting question that certain merits a look into. Growing up, my parents always put a lot of emphasis on the importance of family. Because of this emphasis, we have all remained close despite being dispersed across the country. It was important growing up that we would participate in things like family dinner, and spending time with the others, even if it is just watching TV or a movie. Because of this abundance of time spent together when we were young we developed close bonds (that even teasing couldn't break). To me, family is incredibly important and we must come to each other's aid whenever it is needed.

We had a strong sense of tradition, and still carry many of them out to this day (while it may not always include the entire family, we still do our best). We still go to church on Christmas eve to be followed by a delicious feast of Chinese food from a local restaurant and we still ensure to have an Easter egg hunt every Easter (despite me being the youngest of the children at 21). Keeping with tradition has led me to really believe in the power of traditions to bring people together. Even if we're fighting, stressed, or just feeling down, we are always able to count on that time with out family.

Another thing that had a major influence on the shaping of my life was a constant involvement in sports. This taught me to be very disciplined in how I act. My desire to not let anyone down really fueled this, as I did not want to be the one getting hot headed and putting my team at risk. This is something that I try to transfer to my day to day life.

Growing up, I had an issue with having a lot of fairweather friends. This led to constant disappointment. Since I've grown up, I've been afforded the opportunity to look back at those days and realize that they were clearly not the people I should have been hanging out with because of how they treated me. This is part of the reason why I am incredibly loyal to my friends and expect the same thing in return.