The method in my madness
Prompt
Background, gender, culture, and religion ( or something else you might feel in equally as important) influence who we are, how we perceive issues, and how we argue for or against something. First write about what you think is the most important, overriding influence and then relate it to a specific issue. For example, I was raised in Lancaster County, PA, an exceptionally conservative location, for me, family background and culture have had the greatest influence….Response
I’ve described my family, background, and upbringing in some detail in previous posts so I’ll just reference it here.
I don’t think its possible to truly identify any one entity as rising above the others in the formation of the self. How can background, gender, culture, and religion be viewed individually? Each is tightly coupled with the others.
Noting this disclaimer, I’ll note the tendencies I most closely mimic of my family members. The two most overwhelming were from my maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather, respectively. My grandmother is an avid reader, a lifelong learner, and an ever-inquisitive, open minded woman. My grandfather is a traditionally southern man, hard working, proud, moral and extremely social/outgoing. Furthering this, my mother is very focused on “helping one’s own”. My shop-a-holic aunt once bankrupted her family and my mother sheltered them, building a place for them to stay on our property and letting them live rent-free for 3 years. On the other hand, my father has taught me faith in life, basically karma though he never used the word, and to not fret the details. His biggest tenet to me: think about who you want to be, act like that’s who you are, and you will become who you want to be.
With these major traits in mind, I characterize myself as a very passionate, logical debater. In most every argument, I come prepared with a logical basis for my stance and defend it heatedly; however, I remain open minded enough so that I can recognize superior logic and reconsider my stance, or else regroup, do some more research, and try again :-)
