There is a saying that every person comes into this world with nothing and leaves with it the same way.  From a physical standpoint I think we can all agree without a doubt that this stands true in all cases.  From a metaphysical (not sure if this is the correct word) standpoint I can argue that a soul exists and the soul can take with it at death all that is has learned and experienced.

I will get straight to the point but the idea I proposed above is an interesting and long discussion.  I’ll explain what causes me confusion, especially at this stage in life of people my age.  The topic is essentially marriage.  But more specifically marriage between different cultures.  

These are only opinions that I have and I am writing to see if maybe I can hear from and understand another point of view.  It makes sense to me that people within the same culture will have a lot of similarities with rituals, customs, behaviors and general way of life.  It makes sense that people in the same culture will likely follow the same religion and traditions and festivals.  If both people come from the same culture then there should not be any compromising necessary in these regards.  Where as if people come from two different cultures then there are the possibilities that culture A is only followed, culture B is only followed, or some variation and compromise of both cultures A and B.  This is certainly create either strife between the couple or perhaps unhappiness if one party does not get to follow their culture to their content.  

(Maybe this is something that takes time to learn in life and that I learn with age and experience, but this is my viewpoint now)  With all this in mind, I don’t seem to understand why parents strongly desire their children to marry someone in the same culture.  I do agree that one should be proud of where they have come from and what we learn from our culture is truly invaluable.  But I also subscribe to the notion of unity in diversity and that we all are human in nature; that all of humanity is one.  If I truly enter and leave this world with nothing then what good is it to hold on to culture? Something that “stays” within this world only.  Is it because these cultures are thousands of years old and we want to keep them going?  I am not sure.  I don’t see why we can’t just take the best parts of everything and allow cultures to evolve.  Yes it will certainly be the case that some cultures will die out.  Does not the theory of evolution apply to all aspects of life? That the survival of the fittest prevails.  I guess I believe that everything should be fair game and that choice should be introduced.  When that happens I believe that people become more passionate and understand better why they follow a certain set of guidelines instead of following it for no apparent reason.  

I think this extends to a broader discussion of humans in general and how we tend not to believe anything until we experience it.  We don’t believe that which is told for our own good.  I’d like to end with short example that I read.  It is not in relevance to the original post idea but to this last paragraph.  A father came from home work and it was his six year old daughter’s birthday party and all the children were there and she had received some presents from them but refused to share them.  The father had tried multiple things: asking nicely, explaining how if she shared her toys now when she went to their houses they too would share, bribing her with cookies, then threatening her with timeout.  The father was certainly embarrassed in front of the other parents as he could not get his daughter to share her newly obtained toys.  But later he thought, perhaps it is not a fault of his parenting or a fault of his daughter’s possible selfishness.  Perhaps it was that the daughter needed first to have a sense of ownership of the toys.  Then perhaps the concept of sharing might have a more meaningful understanding to her.  I believe this story only makes sense as a child when we are first learning.  At older age we realized quickly what sharing means in simple situations as in school.  For example in gym class, none of the students own the tennis racket, the school does, but they are able to take turns and share the racket so everyone gets a chance to play.  Similarly, perhaps humans need to have some experiences for themselves to understand it.