07-20-2008, 08:39 AM
While I think it's a nice custom, Hawaiians have their customs; Japanese have their customs; my "people" [
] have their customs. I don't believe any culture should be pressured to take on other customs and lose one's own, in order to assimilate.
If you were to apply that to Hawaiians moving to an area of the mainland, being told to do it someone else's way, it would be more clear what I mean. Even good customs shouldn't be obligatory.
Are you sure the Hawaiians weren't mourning that their young people are not carrying on the traditions? That I understand.
Actually I do offer something, anything, that I have, especially from the garden, though often the person has choke bananas at their own house, you never know. But I would hate to feel like I'm breaking a rule if I forgot.
In my mother's culture, you do not press a gift upon a visitor, and you may not like to be given a gift, because it implies (in that culture) a future obligation, and puts a constraint on the relationship. Not sure which of her bloodlines she got that from, but one that's fiercely independent and doesn't want to obligate or be obligated.
I'm just playing devil's advocate here because I don't like the idea of mono-culture and think it's good for others to understand and accept different ways of doing things, that it doesn't necessarily say anything about whether you have a good heart. It's a custom.
] have their customs. I don't believe any culture should be pressured to take on other customs and lose one's own, in order to assimilate.If you were to apply that to Hawaiians moving to an area of the mainland, being told to do it someone else's way, it would be more clear what I mean. Even good customs shouldn't be obligatory.
Are you sure the Hawaiians weren't mourning that their young people are not carrying on the traditions? That I understand.
Actually I do offer something, anything, that I have, especially from the garden, though often the person has choke bananas at their own house, you never know. But I would hate to feel like I'm breaking a rule if I forgot.
In my mother's culture, you do not press a gift upon a visitor, and you may not like to be given a gift, because it implies (in that culture) a future obligation, and puts a constraint on the relationship. Not sure which of her bloodlines she got that from, but one that's fiercely independent and doesn't want to obligate or be obligated.
I'm just playing devil's advocate here because I don't like the idea of mono-culture and think it's good for others to understand and accept different ways of doing things, that it doesn't necessarily say anything about whether you have a good heart. It's a custom.