My Family Culture - 3 Cultural Items I Would Choose in a Catastrophe

For this week’s coursework, we’ve been asked to respond to the following scenario:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country.  The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees.  You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event.  However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details.  You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently.  You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you.  You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your country. 

I am assuming that my family has their basic needs met – food, clean water, shelter, safety, medical care.  These would be my first priorities.  I am also assuming that we will have basic living conditions with no access to electricity (no access to email, phone, or electronic devices – yikes!)  Thus, the three items that I would take that best represent the cultural items I hold dear would be my scriptures, family photo album, and my journal(s).

My scriptures are a huge part of my religious culture.  I find peace and comfort from the messages in them, as well as divine personal inspiration.  My relationship with my Heavenly Father, and the gospel of Jesus Christ, is central to my life.   The values and beliefs contained in the scriptures are an integral part of the way my husband and I raise our family.  In times of trial, I have always found strength from my Heavenly Father through prayer and scripture study.  Having access to these things is essential to my family’s cultural survival.  If, upon arriving, I was told that I could only have one personal item, I would keep my scriptures and rely on faith that God would provide the rest of what my family needed. 

I would also take a photo album filled with family pictures.  I would want my children to remember our family traditions, photos of our home, places we liked to visit, and especially our extended family members.  These memories would provide happy moments and help our children remember the cultural connections that we had in our previous life.

The final item that I would take with me would be a journal.  I would love to take all my previous journals, but a current journal would allow me to record our family’s journey in a new country and culture.  I would write down our family’s history from our previous life, as well as the current experiences to provide a record for future generations.  The journal would also provide paper to write letters home to other friends/family members if possible.

The insight that I gained from this assignment was a deep reflection of the cultural things that I value the most.  I had to consider what items would provide me not only my cultural connections, but also what would provide my family comfort, strength and the fortitude to begin a new life in a new country that was so different than home.  From this reflection, I concluded that with God, all things are possible.  I have been taught and have a firm belief that we are spiritual beings having an earthly experience.  If we endure this life well, all other things that matter will be given to us again…. our memories, extended and immediate family, our health, and our emotional well-being.  Thus, I will rely on the one item that will keep my spiritual self as strong as possible.  J