How Heritage Helps

Does heritage determine who we are as people? 

Heritage is thought of to be a major factor of a person's character. Many stereotypes circulate due to people's heritage, and are used to generalize about a population. These generalizations will never be able to determine who people of a certain population are, because most of them are not true. However, this leads to another thought - what is true about this population? There must be some similarities. While heritage cannot be used to characterize a person, it should at least be a small part of who that person is.

As the world becomes increasingly uniform, enticed by popular culture, it is important for people to hold on to their cultural differences to keep the world unique. In the book, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, Walls and her siblings try to escape their heritage by getting away from the crazed lives of their parents. However, after finally escaping, Jeanette cannot find peace in her new life in New York. She must move to the country to try and find a similarity of how she grew up, to be at peace with herself. Just as Walls holds on to pieces of how she was raised, people should not forget how they were brought up. Still, Walls was not defined by her childhood heritage. Growing up, it was her choice to work hard enough to escape her old life, while another person in her position might've just accepted that life and might've become just like their parents. Although, heritage cannot be used to describe a person's character, it should be remembered to differentiate oneself from the conforming culture of the world.

The Harlem Renaissance is a great example of how heritage should be used. It was a flourishing of arts of African American heritage. No single person could be defined by the Renaissance, but it showed cultural differences. People must stop fearing stereotypes and celebrate their cultural differences freely. Walt Disney once said, "Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards - the things we live by and teach our children - are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings."(Disney) Heritage isn't for generalizing about a culture, instead it allows for the opposite - to be different.