Assignment Takeaway #2
In our second assignment we were required to write two pages based on an article that included 13 different American values. The article highlighted different values and how they represented American culture but it also gave us a view on how foreigners perceive Americans values. The specific value I found to represent my American values the best was value 13. Value 13 is the value of materialism and acquisitions. The idea behind this value is that Americans are constantly replacing their materialistic items for new items by working hard. I realized this value represented me when I read the list of typical materialistic items found in an American household. It turned out that I owned all the items provided on that list.
This is a value that I believe I got from my parents. My parents were very hard workers and provided my family with everything they possibly could. Growing up we always had nice things but we were taught that in order to have these nice things you had to work hard. The first lesson from my parents based on this idea was when I got my first car. Unlike my other friends, my parents didn’t simply hand me keys on my sixteenth birthday but made me work for it. This assignment ultimately made me realize how materialistic I really am, how the way my parents raised me has affected my choices, and outlook on life. This could also be applied to my education as I know hard work pays off. I also watched my parents struggle to climb to where people with college degrees began because of their lack of education, this is what has pushed my to continue my education after high school.
This is an image of my family at Disney in Orlando, Florida. My mom is a executive assistant and my dad owns his own small construction company. This trip was an outcome of them working hard and saving up to gift my brother a trip for graduating high school.