Dimensions Of Culture, Values, And Communication

Dimensions of Culture, Values, and Communication

Being different is not all that bad and in some cases can be a life saver. Times were tough for me in the past, I lost my job in my home town and had to move to keep my family going to a place I hated with a passion and did not understand. I tried to look for other jobs during this time and saw a friend live in solitude due to his choices and I saw my future was what I made of it and to make the best of it.

Moving to Houston, Texas was probably the worst idea I have ever had but the culture was my biggest confusion. I am a Denver native and while I may not be the most social person, I did find myself an active person when it came to people. Houston was not only another city but felt like another planet at times as people were heavily religious, culturally diverse and overall just different. Now I do not mean that I was right in my ways but not a moment went by where Jesus and God were not spoken to me as religion was a major part of their lives. People of all races and colors lived in Houston and for the most part I was a minority in college as were my children in their schools. Houston natives and permanent transplants were oddly slow in their matters, driving, shopping and eating were not events than had to be done quickly, but casually and with friends. My personal favorite was the football discussions. Football, had it not been played on the weekends would require game days to be state holidays. From High school teams to the national teams, football was the most important event of the day, I even recall on September 11th 2001 some people, not many were discussing the new teams their children were part of and who was going to state.

Granted, my exposure was limited while living in Denver, Houston was a change from anything I had seen during my travels. I was an outsider in my six years as a forced captive Houstonian, I refused to go outside during the hotter months of the year and the cooler months left people indoors when I wanted to be out. I was not a heavy alcohol drinker, and football had no more interest for me than grass growing. My biggest difference was my outright fight against going in debt, or as my neighbors put it "having the best". Several of my neighbors were in this unspoken competition for who has the best car, who did what to their house and "did you see what she did?" comments after a neighbor upgraded. I only found out about this unspoken competition after buying my wife a well deserved mini-van with all the amenities. Oddly both neighbors seemed to have gone and traded their one year old vehicles in for a new one, not two days after I came home with ours but soon were complaining about the high rates and why I bought a $40000 van and only pay $200 a month. It was then I found I was alone in my interest of saving money.

Houston was not my only move in life, in an attempt to move back north I spent a month in Utah looking for a job while on vacation from my Houston job. I personally do not have an issue with religion as I grew up Mormon and moving to Utah which has some cities boasting 98% Mormon was no scare. I stayed with a good friend who, like me was Mormon raised and fell away from the church in our teens. How he moved to Utah with his job I was not sure, but it was clear his lifestyle was unacceptable. During my 30 days I spent as much time outside as I could and was constantly visited by the friendly Mormon neighbors and the occasional missionary. I watched a summer block party happen 300 feet away, and never saw a single person attempt to come over to my friends house and invite him in. the following day I asked the friendly neighbor who was adamant she could get me to come over for dinner before I leave and meet the missionaries for at least one discussion, why my friend was seemingly avoided. Her answer was simple and to the point, "He had his name removed from the church records and cannot be saved!". How a form of closure and personal decision could mean he would not be