I wonder what it must be like to be completely immersed into a culture that is not your own…a strange language, strange sights, smells, foods….What would it be like to suddenly find yourself simply trying to understand and only hearing noise when people spoke to you?  What would it be like to not recognize anything that was going on around you as none of the customs you were use to were used in the new place? 

Would you fight against it, trying to bend all others to your own way?  Would you try to learn, become accustomed to the new things around you?  Would you become defiant and bitter, refusing to change?  I wonder what it must be like for people who have found themselves in situations like that….It would be a hard decision for someone to know what they should do in their new circumstances. 

How long would it take for someone to accept their new circumstances and learn the customs and language they had been thrust into?  Would everyone be open to learning these new things?  If they did learn, would it be for pure survival or because they were interested?  Would it matter the reason to the people around them, or would they simply be happy with the fact that the new comer was indeed learning?

Would it be possible for someone to forget the way of life they had been raised in?  Would it be possible for them to grow to like and appreciate if not even love their new society and way of life?

What it must have been like for anyone who was ever captured and taken into a new society, or someone adopted and taken to a new country, or people who go to a new place looking for a better life….

Tags: customs, thoughts
Filed under: Life, Society