For this paper I have decided to compare American culture and the Vietnamese culture. After reading about many different cultures I have found this one to be the most fascinating. This culture seems to be very family oriented and have very strong bonds. I find the rituals they perform very amazing and wanted to share them. If more cultures were like the Vietnamese society I feel there would be more respect towards others and a higher regard for life and for our loved ones that have passed.
This is a hard subject for me as my family really doesn’t seem to deal with death well. As a child I can remember when someone passed everything was hush hush and there was just tons of food that was being brought to the house and no one would cry. I never understood why no one cried when they should be sad since someone had just passed away. We had just went to a funeral but no one was crying they were just acting as if it was just another day with everyone together and strange people I had never seen stopping by bringing food and giving hugs and saying sorry for your loss. As I got older nothing changed I was just told “we do not cry in front of people, that is not who we are”. I still to this day do not understand it. I have taught my children to never hold that feeling in and it IS ok to cry in front of others. I was raised by my grandparents and they come from a different generation where you didn’t show your feelings in public. When you lose a loved one people expect to see you sad and in mourning.
In my family when someone has passed there is a not much done to acknowledge death. I mean they say the person has passed but there is no public display of sadness. The older members of the family show no emotion at all. I have taught my children it is ok to cry and show they are sad. I am thinking since they were all taught that showing emotion was