Owen

Multiculturalism, a word that at the beginning of the semester I thought I had no part in participating in let alone appreciating my own Portuguese heritage. My entire life I have been told by my father the “pork and cheese” this, “pork-chops” that. It’s a way of belittling my culture and I didn’t even realize when I was a kid. I thought it was normal. I thought culture was something everyone had but didn’t show because that’s just not what we do.

Growing up I found my sense of integrity from my grandfather to be truly inspiring and I found out that is a trait shared by Portuguese culture. My loyalty to my friends that I learned from my mother to never leave a friend in need behind. My sense of family that no matter what. I would do anything to protect them. How at family dinners we all scream at each other with smiles on our face, trying to get our points across. Being in this culture is not just defined by all the negative perceptions that people have of us. Every culture has negative perception, that’s where the disgusting stereotypes come from. That doesn’t mean that we need to define ourselves by how they want.

Taking this class, I wanted to experience other cultures but in reality, I found out that other cultures are similar to mine. A sense of family isn’t exclusive to Portuguese people, The idea of family is cherished all over the globe. In today’s world of division and isolation it is nice to acknowledge that we are all connected in one way or another. By the values in our culture that we hold dear, we can connect with others through the similarities in our culture. Now what? We can choose to look at the negatives within ourselves and choose to believe all the nasty things that are being spurted our way. At the end of the day, we won’t even be left with ourselves if you don’t discover who you are. At least for myself I can say that I finally accept my culture, because my culture is who I am.

Owen Lapalme, HR 261, Human Rights & Human Diversity, Brantford