American Core Cultural Values

I grew up in a very liberated yet bonded family. Mom and Dad are working, my siblings have their own worlds, and I am busy with school. However, we still find time to sit and relax and chat every night, and know the latest in each and everyone of us. I am also raised in a wonderful community which I call my second home. I met a bunch of people, of different tongue and color, whom I consider friends; and neighbors, who burst out of their houses ready to greet you with a warm smile.For me, everyday is a new day – learning new things, getting excited with minute things, seeing beauty in the world. Since then and now, America has changed a lot – it has dramatically transformed from something so simple, into a great nation of complexity. This often make me stand, gaze in oblivion and ponder – of the diverse American values, a hundred or so cultural diffusion if not acculturation, countless experiences, rich and unique history, are there any left native to us?Are there values that we can proudly call â€Å"heraldic† and â€Å"ours† since time immemorial? I discover many, but for the purpose of this paper, I will focus on four American core values I found significant and got to live with since I was born – Individualism, Time Management, Equal Opportunity and the so-gone issue on Racism. At a very young age, I was trained by my workaholic parents to stand on my own feet which simply began with learning to dress myself alone, to tie my shoe lace, to prepare my school bag and cook my own breakfast.I was trained to be responsible with my actions, words and decisions that if failures arose, I have no one to blame but myself. I grew up having sense of being an individual – independent, resourceful, hardworking. I tend to be self-reliant, not giving myself much attachment to other people except for social purposes. I had envision myself to be this or that person, or to have this or that belongings and I strive (and is still s triving) to reach the goal that I have designed and formulated.Like most of my co-citizen, I want to be known not as the son of Paul Miller or a brother of Louise Brown – I want to be known as a separate, unattached entity named Robert Walden. Like the Africans, the Americans live with the value of Individualism – a concept which stresses human independence and the importance of individual liberty in terms of morality, politics, economics and society. It opposes the general concepts of communism, holism, socialism and the likes which view communal relationship as more important than individuality. Being self-reliant, Americans believe in the ability of the â€Å"self.† One is responsible for himself, and most likely, you won't find a person who will generally lend a hand to you, because as an individual, with determination and own way of thinking, you are expected to seek solution or find someone else who can aid you. Americans also have a very strict work ethic . As most of us notice, American businesses are most likely to stick to deadlines and seldom would it be extended for an individual's sake. Often, when an employee arrived late, the employer wouldn't scrutinize the former since he has nothing to do with it and the employee is responsible for his tardiness.Also, businessmen strongly value the concept of â€Å"healthy† competition. Americans believe that competition brings out the best in an individual, and in this case, in a business. Having a â€Å"free market† economic system, companies are strongly encouraged to compete resulting to the lowering of product prices while increasing its quality, thus, the concept of â€Å"free enterprise. † Not only in the workplace is competition highly visible – it is as well a common value at school. Students also do compete – they study well, participate in class activities, etc.Seeing other students doing the same way make them strive even harder so they would end up being the best among the rest. If schools award and honor students who have worked harder than the others, companies also reward those who showed industry and dedication, especially those employees who achieved the greatest goals. The state promotes liberty and equality, not just of the individual but of all aspects of life – from the family to the society, from local government to the entire city, from a single entity to a nation.Liberty is defined as the condition that provides an individual to act according to his own will, giving him the freedom from external compulsion. This again falls to the initial value of individualism – one being solely responsible for himself. The combination of these two ideals refines an American to act and work efficiently and in the most practical way. From liberty resurface the concept of equality. Americans regard â€Å"equality† as significant, if not, vital for the nation's survival, and the citizens' harmonious relati onship. To quote paragraph 2 of the US Declaration of Independence:We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed (US Congress, 1776). But the pursuit of equality in the United States took many years of efforts and struggles from different social groups – innumerable bullets soared in the air, blood flooded the countryside, protests and social movements impaired the hearing of those who wouldn't listen.Racism has, ever since the coming of the â€Å"colored† people, been the most debatable and undying issue in American history. The entry of the Blacks during the â€Å"Slave Trade† commenced the years of discrimination since they came primarily to work in the plantation, construc tion sites and other brawn activities that require strength and endurance. As workers, they were viewed lowly by the society – as inferior to their professional office activities. But as the society slowly becoming liberated in ideas and open to changes and transformation, so are the people's behavior and attitude towards their so called â€Å"other people. †This understanding resulted to the dawn of the concept â€Å"equal opportunity,† another significant American value that has been continuously advocated by the U. S. Government. Equal opportunity is said to be synonymous with racial harmony – the elimination of all forms of violence and discrimination between different races, thus, giving everybody equal access to politics, economy, spirituality, and other common necessities and needs. One way to promote such ideal is by creating and passing laws that prohibits, for instance, job discrimination and elevates the international understanding of human rig hts and human rights violations.Some laws and provisions against job discrimination are discussed and incorporated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and Civil Rights Act of 1991. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (or EEOC) enforces these and other laws related to the protection of people from job alienation, particularly those of non-American race. Before, I found it really difficult to befriend other nationalities, as personally, I have no idea on how to approach them in utmost respect.However, feeling at ease in a diverse and complex environment that I grew up with gave me the courage (and in some way, disciplined me) to act normally with and treat other races in a manner that I would want them to treat me. And as such, it is now a taboo to see a White man cursing and pouncing on a Black man simply because of the latter's color. Last ly, what I regard as among the most important values of the Americans is their reverence with time. Cliche as it may seem, but the quotation, â€Å"Time is Gold† is an understatement.For Americans, time is more than precious – it is almost â€Å"invaluable† in the sense that you can't add-on value to time. They have this attitude of maximizing the day so as to make themselves a productive person in as many hours as possible. In that case, it is normal to see most Americans, even students my age, working in a cafeteria, gasoline stations, and the like so that, while learning, they are as well earning. Being time-oriented, wasting time is a â€Å"no no! † In a signboard hanging along a commercial avenue I passed through reads, â€Å"Being early means being on-time.Being on-time means coming late. And coming late means being dead! † As we value time for being productive, so as to relax and pamper ourselves. Most Americans, especially those with better jobs, spend their year working as hard as they can so that by the time of vacation, they have more money to spend and a lot more time to reward themselves with a luxurious and satisfying vacation. We don’t just work to earn, we work to have fun. An Asian friend once told me that it’s really difficult to understand an American – or to grasp the core of a true-to-the-blood American.I ask him why and told me that the country is too diverse and totally mixed-up. American culture is too complex that it seems like its entire culture is a result of the mixing of this and that foreign culture, he added. Again, it made me wonder – are we really that hard to understand, or don’t we really have a â€Å"trademark† that would particularly identify us? This paper prove them wrong. And I've proven them wrong. Americans have their own identity, and treasure a set of values they call their own. What I've discussed in this paper are but some of our core valu es, which in my opinion, are the most vital of all.I may have not fully exercised some of these values now but I intend to when the right time and avenue comes. Entertainment media has successfully portrait the life of a true American through the many local and international films. However, what foreign viewers grasp is our more obvious character, that is, being liberated in words, actions and decisions. We practice and enjoy liberty that it almost overflow or over portrayed in movies. Liberated is equated to Americans. But we are more than just being liberated.We are more than a bunch of people who have our own free-will. We are not simply those Whitemen who exhibited liberty for the sole reason of being free. We are more than what they thought of us. In one word, we are â€Å"deeper. † Still in doubt? Just read this paper again and you'll surely understand what I mean. Works Cited Smedley, Brian D. and Alan Jenkins. All Things Being Equal: Instigating Opportunity in an Ineq uitable Time. New York: The New Press, 2007. US Congress. The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. Retrieved on 15 April 2008 at