lux55's Journal: Question of Culture

Regarding my previous journal entry (admittedly, a harsh one), I've come about a new explanation for the state of teenagers in Canada that, while it doesn't excuse their melodrama and self-pity, might help explain it better (and we all know understanding is the first step to solving a problem). The idea is that young Canadians, moreso than even Americans, have lost their sense of culture.

Canadians pride themselves on their ability to preserve our cultures in a way that America wasn't able to. In defense of America, Canada is a much younger country, and has had an older brother down south to observe and learn from their mistakes. Canadians call themselves (ourselves, I'm Canadian -- but my name is not Joe, and I don't live in an Igloo, sorry :)) a "cultural trail-mix", as opposed to the term "cultural melting-pot" that we use to refer to America. But I see the younger generations letting this cultural protection slip (not all of us, but a large percentage). I said "moreso than even Americans" earlier, because I see many Americans who have accepted a new, very nationalistic pride as a substitute for whatever culture they had before.

Culture is something we can identify with and feel a part of. Culture doesn't define us as individuals, but it is an undeniable influence, and to not have it or to reject its influence is very destructive. As the saying goes "you don't know where you're going unless you know where you came from", maybe a different meaning and a more active approach can be made to the concept of "finding ones self". This would mean that finding yourself would be a matter of learning your culture and your history.

Now I'm not saying that hippies smoking pot and sitting in the grass all day might be on to something, but the same term they apply as an excuse could perhaps be redefined to become an effort to reunite ourselves with our histories and our cultures (being that there is more than one history to Canada, and often more than one culture to an individual Canadian).

So instead of taking American media to heart and embracing that as our new culture, effectively seeking to redefine ourselves in the image of another nation and acting in much the same way as a younger sibling would, let's try to be conscious of that influence and to reestablish historical influences that can help get us up to speed on understanding ourselves and where we're headed.