Black-White Divide

Are the rules different when within your culture versus outside of it? Reflect on a time when you acted differently or were aware of a different expectation of you for being an outsider. What was that experience like?

I’m considered as a Filipino-American, we Filipinos have a big family and anyone in relation to us is considered as family as well. Some of the cultures we have are:

• People get strength and stability from their family. As such, many children have several godparents.
• Every Filipino are very religious and believe in god.
• We respect the elders by saying “Mano po” by simply grabbing their hand to your forehead to show that you respect them.
• Filipinos believe they must live up to the accepted standards of behavior and if they fail to do so they bring shame not only upon themselves, but also upon their family.
• If someone is publicly embarrassed, criticized, or does not live up to expectations, they feel shame and lose self-esteem.

In all these cases, I go through all this. The rules are way different in my culture than others. We love each other and are very supportive whatever happens and we provide each other with smiles and warmth. A time when I acted different and I was not aware of what was going on was when I was in the Philippines at a church in my province. We praised to god. There was a few times in church was when after the priest said something , everyone around the church greeted each other and said thanks around them. I didn’t know what to do, I just stared and stood still smiling at the strangers. We were suppose to thank them and respect them. I did not know it was like that until I started coming to churches continuously so I can learn from what I have knowledge for. That experienced was scary for me because it looked like I was not educated or not taught about being religious.