Faith education in the family

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Family life in the big city by Jyoti

Desmond Morris, the famous author once said “The city is not a concrete jungle, it’s a human Zoo” Life in a big city is very artifical, everything what we do looks very monotonous. Family life has got entangled with city life and there is no time for family. Family members seldom spend time together or eat together. This has affected the family prayers too. In cities, we observe very few families pray together. When it comes to prayer, every member of the family has so many excuses that, 30 minutes of time is not spared to pray together as one family. People become restless within 05 minutes, if they do not use their smart phones. People are busy chatting with someone whom they have never seen or met, but forget to spend time with their own family members. Life in a city is no doubt comfortable, but happiness & satisfaction is not found in cities. People in a city are always in hurry, work like machines and follow the fixed routine. They chase their dreams and greedy for their material comforts of life. They have no peace of mind. Everyone forgets that prayer in life can give peace and satisfaction. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to him. Praying together with family will always keep our families bonded together.

Life in the different culture by Jyoti

There’s a saying “when in Rome do as Romans do”, apart to this saying, when we stay in a different country or city, they have their own culture and adapting to their culture makes our life easier.

It’s very important to know about the culture of others and to have cultural diversity. When we live in a vibrant multicultural country like Indonesia, it is important to understand cultures other than your own. There are many ways to do this, but most important is to remember that we are all people trying to do the best we can by taking each person on their own merit will always see us right.

There are many ways to understand different cultures and cultural differences. Many people try to be themselves rather than trying to meet people who are different from them. They are comfortable in their own community or people from their nation. However, actively trying to know and explore cultural differences can lead you up to a whole world of exciting new possibilities and experiences

One of the creative examples, wherein kids learn about different culture and practices is an International School. In an International School, children from different countries with various cultural backgrounds study and learn together. School becomes a hub for cultural diversity. Every festival is celebrated and children are familiarized with different cultures. For example, my kids until they came to Jakarta, they were not aware of the “Barongsai dance” (Lion dance) that by performing it will bring good luck and fortune.

Similarly, when we live in different cultures, we start appreciating their culture and why those cultures are being followed by the people. Sometimes it’s not all that easy to gain an understanding of cultural differences, for whatever reasons. In such situations, it is best is to just acknowledge that some people are different and to accept that will make our life easy.

I believe that “everyone is unique”, the main thing to remember is that everyone, no matter what their cultural background, has different opinions, habits and ways of life. The sooner we accept that everyone is different the easier it becomes to understand and embrace cultural differences.