Persistent Roots
Our cultural identity endures despite conscious efforts to distance ourselves from it. I realized that despite attempts to shed cultural influences, these roots run deeper than imagined, shaping thoughts, values, and perspectives in inescapable ways.
For years, I believed I had successfully transcended my cultural identity, rejecting what I saw as excesses, consumerism, and individualism. The awakening came gradually through self-reflection and others' observations. Reacting to situations in characteristically familiar ways, with body language and expectations that revealed my background to others even when I thought I had shed these markers.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
Cultural conditioning runs profoundly deep and it affects fundamental approaches to life, work, and relationships. The belief in self-improvement, expectation of immediate results, emphasis on individual achievement, assumption that hard work guarantees success, and tendency to view problems as solvable through effort were patterns so ingrained I mistakenly thought they were universal human traits.
Although we are intentionally placed in specific cultural contexts, our identity in Christ transcends culture. However, it doesn't fully erase our cultural identity. The realization that I still carry my cultural identity has been both humbling and liberating, freeing me from the impossible task of completely escaping who I am.
Ultimately, this reminds me to acknowledge my cultural identity rather than trying to escape it, and understand how my background shapes my thinking. I try to appreciate both its strengths and limitations, and allow my cultural identity to be transformed, rather than rejecting it entirely.