Do I need to embrace my culture?

anonymous

New member
My parents are immigrants from another country. However, I was born and raised in America, have only visited the country that my parents are from 2 times in my life, and I consider myself American.

My parents keep pestering me about "embracing" my culture and my roots because, as they say, it's "MY" culture. I completely disagree; I'm American, and honestly I just don't like the culture of the country that my parents are from. I don't find it interesting and many of the cultural aspects are turn-offs. I'm not xenophobic; I am really interested in some other countries' cultures, just not the one my parents are from and that's completely by choice.

I'm not "ashamed" of my culture. I tell people that's where my parents are from, and I'm completely open about it. I just don't care about embracing it. There are some other people who have immigrant parents like me, and they're so into that country's culture that they don't even attempt to try to act American, and only hang out with people of their own ethnicity.

I'm not like that, I don't judge people on their ethnicity. I enjoy hanging out with people of all cultures, and I just don't happen to be interested in the culture that my parents are from. Is there something wrong with that? Do I NEED to embrace it even if I don't care for it?
 
I agree that we don't need to embrace our culture with full force.
I'm Chinese, but I'm not in China or some similar Asian country with a similar lifestyle.
I'm in Canada, so I live my life as a Canadian with a Chinese ethnicity.
If you're not rejecting that part of you, you're not pushing away that aspect of your background; you're just living according to your environment..
 
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