My Cultural Diversity

Essay by ryanray3College, Undergraduate September 2006

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My cultural diversity has been shaped by the combination of my parents, my time in the United States Army, various people and training at my previous jobs, and even some courses that I have taken at the University of Phoenix.

My parents were not, in my opinion, racist but there were always racist sounding jokes being told about African Americans. I laughed because it was my parents telling the jokes, but there comes a point in all of our lives when we simply grow up or realize that these are wrong. We no longer blindly latch on to or believe everything that our parents always say. We believe ourselves before we fall victim to others' influences, and we question and relearn answers that we believe to be correct. We evaluate and review what we have been taught, and sometimes, if lucky, we are able to unlearn what we have previously thought to be right.

My time in the United States Army introduced me to many different cultures and individuals with very different backgrounds. I really did not learn much of other religions but I was introduced to members of other races for basically the very first time. The reason for this is that I grew up in a very small town in western Ohio. The population in Mendon, Ohio is approximately 700 people. Growing up in a predominately white area, I was not exposed to cultural diversity before I joined the military. I do not think that it was necessarily considered a culture shock for me because I did not see it as that. I did not have any problems with others concerning their race, religion, or anything else like that. The drill sergeants also would not allow anything of this nature to become a problem.

The most important part,