Thursday, March 17, 2016

ႀကီးပ်င္​းျခင္​း😉😉😉CULTURAL UPBRINGING

Word Count: 808
Most children are put to bed with tales of princesses and fairies, but not me. When I was young, my father would prop open a book, titled something along the lines of Evolution for Children and read to me about the first cell division. I also remember coming into the living room to watch The Smurfs and my father happily suggesting The World of Chimps on PBS, instead. I did not quite understand what I was being shown. Nevertheless, I was exposed from very early on to the world of science.
It did not occur to me to embark on a formal study of Anthropology until recently. I was always interested in the field, however. My father had planted a seed that grew in time. When I was in high school, my father did not have to ask anymore. I voluntarily would watch Joseph Campbell’s Power of Myth on television. In school, I tended to not give a second thought to The Grapes of Wrath, but anything by Tolstoy, Dumas, and Austen stirred my imagination. Stories of times and cultures unlike mine, plucked melodically at my psyche like a harp. Russian, French, English (especially the English) presented to me another way of life, alluringly different from my American one.
I soon found a way to also find my own culture fascinating, through religion. In a search of my own spirituality I attended various religious services and was impressed by the spiritual leaders I encountered. The way they could make a mass of people act for them in the name of an unseen deity fascinated me. I began to read the Bible, the Torah, the Ramayana, the Qu’ran, anything I could get my hands on. The parallels between the religions and their effect on their followers struck me. I delved into the dead religions and myths. The more I read the more connections between the old and new religions became apparent. I soon realized how similar my own culture could be to others in its beliefs.

At the same time, I developed a love for languages. I taught myself to read some Russian...

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