Culture Shock

One of the best ways to give your system a jolt is to visit a different country. The farther away you are from your own country, the more likely you will encounter a culture that is far different from your own. And never mind that the internet and satellite communications have allowed the exportation and diffusion of western culture around the world: things are still quite different in other places.

I've had a number of those jolts, starting back int he 1970s on college-sponsored work and study programs in Guatemala, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. In 1995 I spent a month teaching in Taiwan, and then in 2002 went to China (PRC) to adopt our second daughter.

Talk about shock. Sure, there were familiar US icons like Coca Cola, McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut. Everything else was strikingly different.

But one need not necessarily leave home to understand the impact of culture shock. Simply turn around a look back to where you've been in your life. And I don't mean geographic locations: I mean the different decades in which you have lived.

Our textbooks tell us that culture is a dynamic construct, something that changes on a steady basis. We may think we understand culture in the here and now, but really all we are looking at is a snapshot of today. Yesterday's snapshot is different, and becoming a blurry past, while tomorrow's is slowly coming into focus.

If you're only 20 years old, ask your parents what I'm talking about. They can tell you stories.

From my perspective (closing in on the half-century mark), I can see that a lot of things have changed. The Leave It To Beaver culture of the 1950s (epitomized in the TV show of that name) is but a distant memory. The day when Moms put on fancy dresses to do housework, prepare meals, and manage household affairs is so far removed from current culture as to almost elicit a chuckle or two.

At the risk of sounding like your parents (or grandparents), things were much simpler in decades past. At least my generation had television (although it was primarily black-and-white for most people until about 1970). My parents had only radio. Unless you were a research scientist in the late-1960s, there was no internet to surf. People still raised their voice when speaking on the telephone, because that was the only way the other person could hear you. And road rage was simply unheard of.

Today much has changed. Our young people (the Millennial Generation) are multi-tasking pros, juggling iPods, cell phones, and email at the same time (and hopefully not while driving). About 70% of adult women now work outside the home, and a huge portion of marriages end in divorce, the result being all manner of "non-traditional" family arrangements.

We've become time-poor, possession-hungry zealots intent on shaving seconds anywhere possible in order that we might cram 28 hours worth of activity into a mere 24. We are quick to adopt any gadget that promises us better time management.

At home we live in spacious dwellings with abundant parking space for our 2 or 3 vehicles, yet we have to rent self-storage facilities because our 2800 square feet of junk won't fit in our 2300 square feet houses. TVs blare in every room, computer work stations are at our fingertips (and we are highly likely to work almost as much from home as we are the office, because work never ends).

And when it comes time to eat, we head to a restaurant. Oh yeah, I already blogged on that one.

Some folks are alarmed at how our culture has changed in the last few decades. They cite all the social problems staring us in the face, and bemoan all the change that has occurred. They yearn to go back to their idealized simpler way of life, as if turning around in the ditch were possible.

But I'm optimistic. Humans are amazingly adaptable to changing environments. While our lives are certainly far more multi-textured and layered than they once were, we have learned to cope quite nicely, thank you. I cannot imagine ever returning to a culture reminiscent of the 1950s (although I know some church and community people who are preparing just in case the 50s stage a comeback).

No, I am content to simply remember and study the past, knowing we cannot return. Furthermore, I embrace the future while doing the best I can with today.

And after a couple of weeks reading my blogs, I'm sure that comes as no shock to you.

Dr "Looking Forward To Tomorrow" Gerlich