Deep Culture

Culture & Psychology

23 February 2019

“Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by his ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it’s stupid”

Albert Einstein

What a powerful statement that Albert Einstein has said. How often do we not look at ourselves and feel that we are not capable of doing something because of what someone else has said, or we may just not realize that we have that talent?

I grew up with no mother and when I met my husband, Len his mother decided I could do all sorts of things. Not wanting to disappoint her I made it happen. One day she arrived to fetch me from work with yards of material on the back seat and said “Look what I found? It was a bargain. Can you make my curtains?” Curtains, I did not know even where to start but I did it.

Often, I would look at items that are cross stitched and admired it, thinking it is a way to difficult for me to make it. Then one day I saw my sister-in-law doing it and I thought “If you can do it, I can do it better.” The wrong attitude I know but it certainly gave me the confidence to try it out. When my daughter was due to come home from her mission I decided to make her something special. I tried a couple of times to cross stitch the Saviors face but after many prayers, I did succeed. We need to have faith in ourselves to accomplish what is required of us.

We had Jewish friends that moved around the corner from where we lived. Shelley was going through a really hard time as both her sons had moved on with their lives and moved out into their own places. One afternoon Shelley arrived at our doorstep and decided that they should come for dinner. Her husband, Raymond was rather upset about this because he had cooked a chicken for them for dinner but decided that he should join us. We had made Spaghetti and Meatballs which was fine there was no dairy with it but really did matter was that I had already grated cheese on top. Well, I told the children not to say anything about the cheese. Quietly split the food so that we could get an extra two plates of food and removed the cheese. Raymond and Shelley got their plates of food with no cheese on and they happily ate and told us how delicious it was. Personally, I know that when we had eaten in their home we weren't even allowed to take the dishes through in case we put it into the wrong kitchen. I know that it was wrong but I did not have other food that I could whip up for them to eat. It went against their Culture totally and am sure that it would have effected Shelly Psychology. Had I known they were coming for dinner I certainly would have prepared something else.

We need to be aware of the cultures of our students and make them feel secure. They need to know that the sky is the limit. When I was in Young Women the girls wanted to do a Fashion Show and while planning I told the girls we need to “Go big or go home.” It made them realize they could achieve anything and have them quote me on that. We manage to pull off and full on Fashion Show.

We can do anything we want and we can help our student achieve that as well.