Thursday, October 18, 2018

Culture and the Forgiveness of Self

Do you ever notice how often culture is given as the quick default explanation. The mere mention of culture means the explanation need not be substantive, only that it is, well, _ culture. You might recognize similar, older variations of this explanation such as, it’s a guy thing, it’s a girl thing, it’s an American thing, it's a (fill in ethnic group identifier) you wouldn’t understand. 'Nuf said. End of story. This response is not intended to strengthen or solidify any explanation. More likely it's just a way to escape the heat. The reference to culture is often the fallback in studies and discussions. It is heard in the study of the scriptures and in the workplace discussions. Often what it reveals is that the individual has little or no knowledge or understanding of the subject. The mention of culture may hold the opposition and the inquisitive minds at arm’s length, but not for long.