Our origins determine who we are and where we belong Essay

Submitted By aaronferioando
Words: 1045
Pages: 5
Open Document
Our origins determine who we are and where we belong
Our origins are often referred to as our birth places, homeland or the environment around us. But they are just our “place origins”, the world “origin” means more than a place; the connections with family, with cultures, with friends, our experience and many other nonmaterial things that affect our perceptions of this world are also parts of our origins. But what is the relationship between our origins and our identity and belonging? Are we simply a mixture of our own experiences and connections? Or it is the outside point of views determine who we are as well as where we belong? Despite the answers, the bigger question is, are we limited by our origins?
What we experienced and the connections we developed have long influences on our behavior and thoughts, and decide where we belong. We experience happiness and hurts alternatively, but most of time hurts have the greatest effect on our life. Wayne, one of the characters in the book <The Mind of a Thief> who was sexual abused when he was a child. This trauma sparked his identity crisis when he recalled this experience and drove him crazy. Wayne was therefor changed from a potential elite to a man lived in chaos. Unfortunates like this often ruin one’s life, and it take years for them to heal. But sometimes we can be saved by the connections. Wayne did not get normal until Joyce asked him for help on the Aboriginal Land Rights. This sense of responsibility not only pulled Wayne out of the chaos, but also gave him a direction of life. Wayne’s connection with the Aboriginal culture was strengthen in this way as well, as he decided to learn the almost-lost Aboriginal language and devoted his life into its culture. Wayne’s example reveals that our connections with others or a society can affect our identity, but where we belong is determined by connections as well. Patti Miller felt she belong to Wellington because she had childhood connection with it; Wayne felt belong to Aboriginal because Joyce connected his normal life with the Aboriginal Land rights. Similarly, there are also people in Japan fee they belong to the virtual world such as a particular internet community, an animation world or a game world. Some of them even marry with a computer for the virtual role in a gal game. They doing so because many of them have a stronger connection with the virtual world than with the reality. Every friendship they have, whatever it is with people or a set of digital programs, are developed in this virtual world. No wander feel belong to it instead of the reality that they have tiny connections. . The “origin” can be defined as the connections we developed in our experiences, and belonging is tied with one’s connection. In fact, our life is made of infinite connections as we interacting with the outside world, and we rely on these connections to feel where we belong.
Despite our inner qualities that shaped our experiences and connections, others’ points of views such as the cultural stereotypes the rejection can have influence on us. Cultural stereotypes are everywhere in our life: Asians are good at math; Africans are good at sports; Muslims are connected with jihadist. When these cultural stereotype are exerted on use, we tend to conform to it. African-American is a significant example. After two centuries of slavery, white Americans traditionally refused to acknowledge black Americans are capable of the intellectual achievement. That academic achievement is the whites’ prerogative has become the value of many groups which give up their education and affect many people’s behavior. According to the Paper “The empirical analysis of ‘Acting white’ ” from the University of Harvard, high-achieving blacks are often rejected by his or her peers. This is significant in the low-income minority group. Partly because the Blacks are conforming to their cultural stereotype,
Show More

Related Documents: Our origins determine who we are and where we belong Essay

Art as an enhancement of reality Essay

objective together. This encounter is a distortion and enhancement of reality, because it exposes what is externally real through an internal process. I recently heard a sample from a Simon and Garfunkel song distorted through a vocoder. The person who decided to use this sample had a subjective experience finding the right sound as he the sample through different levels of synthesizers. One of those sounds left a mark, or trace and cased the subject to think ‘this is the sound I want!’ That encounter…

Words 1488 - Pages 6

Evaluate The Kalam Argument

argument is a form of cosmological argument. It claims that everything which begins to exist must have a prior cause for it to have come into existence. Much like our ancestors are the cause of us, so too is everything else in our universe. The universe then must have a cause since there was a time in which it too started to exist. Due to our scientific explanation being limited, the cause must be God. Simplified, the Kalam argument can be summarised into four key points which I will individually…

Words 1899 - Pages 8

Worldview Assignment Ap104 Essay

When it comes to interpreting the definition of what the word “worldview” means and what encompasses, I believe that it has a lot to do with where a person stands within their own individual perspective, idealism, religious experiences and impressions. According to the dictionary, worldview is described as “The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world, or a definitive “collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by a particular individual or a group. “ (The American…

Words 1289 - Pages 6

Plato's Demiurge

remains the one true creator who created everything before the other gods exists. His discussion on the existence of other gods at least acknowledges mythology. Plato says “To know or tell the origin of the other divinities is beyond us.” We get more insight on the relation of man, gods and the Demiurge in this segment of text which personifies the Demiurge even more. After everything was created he addresses the gods saying, Gods, children of gods, who are my works, and of who I am the artificer and father…

Words 1876 - Pages 8

Pro Slavery Essay

1837 (excerpted) I do not belong, said Mr. C., to the school which holds that aggression is to be met by concession. Mine is the opposite creed, which teaches that encroachments must be met at the beginning, and that those who act on the opposite principle are prepared to become slaves. In this case, in particular. I hold concession or compromise to be fatal. If we concede an inch, concession would follow concession - compromise would follow compromise, until our ranks would be so broken that…

Words 1632 - Pages 7

The Teleological Theory: Design Argument And The Theory Of Evolution

does exist or with those who believe that we evolved through the process of evolution, I will be siding with neither. Instead, I will explain the main points from both the advocate of the teleological argument and the Theory of Evolution. The Teleological Theory states that the world that we live in possesses a highly ordered structure, like a machine. Our world’s design is so intricate and complex that it must require a designer, a supreme mind. The supreme mind belongs to God. In the article by…

Words 1957 - Pages 8

Essay about Hate Crimes

Claudia V. Serrano English 155 September 25, 2010 Hate Crimes As we focus on crimes, we start to classify them into categories, whether they are drug crimes, crimes of passion or even an accidental crime. One crime we have definitely classified is a hate crime. Hate crimes have been happening ever since we can remember. One thing that we need to really see is whether a hate crime is really a crime of hate or a crime of belief. The word “hate crime” did not exist until the mid 1980’s. A…

Words 2017 - Pages 9

skryznecki poems Essay example

not known who his real father was. Felix was the one that was always in his life. He worked as a labourer for the water board, whi le growing his own vegetable garden. Felix always retained his polish background. Purpose- To inform and educate Summary Explores the relationship between the poet and his father, and their contrasting experiences of belonging in a new land. What ideas about belonging are presented?  The poem explores cultural belonging.  Felix culturally belongs to Poland;…

Words 4395 - Pages 18

Definition Of Anthropology

study of humans. The working definition that we will use in this course is given below. ( You will find that important definitions in the lectures are boxed.) Anthropology The study of humankind at all times and all places. Anthropology is a discipline of infinite curiosity about human beings. It focuses on humankind, their cultures, their adaptations, their behavior, and their physical variation within the context of learned social behavior, which we call culture. Anthropology is concerned explicitly…

Words 6305 - Pages 26

Hermeneutics Essay

vertical context. In other words, the background knowledge refers to the author, the vertical context belongs to the work. The two vertical context categories are allusions an quotations, those borrowings from other sources, literary sources, which are revealed in the horizontal context. Background knowledge is the entity of information about the culture, history and time to which a certain work belongs. As for vertical context, it's a philological research. It…

Words 3987 - Pages 16