A Crisis of Identity

One issue that I thought I could relate to was Sami’s story and how he was having an identity crisis when he had to fight in a war that needed him to kill his own people. He also at one point said he was the farthest thing from being an Arab. I feel like this happens to a lot of the younger generation nowadays. I even notice it in my family. I am the oldest and I believe I have the strongest grasp of our family’s traditions because my parents brought me up with tradition and my younger sister also got a bit of it and it really shows when we are speaking our native language which is Laotian. I have pretty good understanding of the language and as it progresses from myself to my younger sister and my youngest sister the level of understanding and speaking the language decreases. This also goes for when we show signs of respect. In most Asian cultures it is very disrespectful to speak to someone that is your elder and look them directly in the eye. I believe because of the society that my sisters and I were brought up in it is hard to not look at people in the eyes because it’s a sign of respect to look at people in the eye when it comes to the American culture. This creates and clash between culture and society and because our parents won’t judge us nearly as hard it becomes easier to turn around on our traditions. This happens to many children in this day and age because society has such a strong influence on all of us and all can really be done is to have parents keep reinforcing their kids with their traditions and culture like my parents do to my sister and I.