Before one can fully immerse themselves in another country’s culture I find that you need to know and analyze what is prevalent in your own country’s culture. In the United States we cherish this idea of individualism, where people are expected to be independent and self-reliant. This contributes to the push towards individualistic success that stemmed within the American Dream, which has the sentiment that you can create a life for yourself no matter where you come from on the societal ladder. I think this idea has its pros and cons, it makes people want to become successful in whatever that might mean to them, but it also creates this blindness to the needs of others because of the constant feel of competition between the population. In my own experiences with the sense of individualism in this country has varied. I want to become an actor and in my world we are pushed to focus on ourselves and what we want to do instead of how what we do might affect those around us. Especially in the United States where success is measured in how you got to where you are presently, the cut throat atmosphere of the career field I am going to pursue is quite prevalent. I believe that wanting to grow and having this ambition to be successful is an important attribute to have but sometimes I think that individualistic mindset can be the cause of a lot of this country’s problems. For example, living through the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light that a lot of the people in the United States are more focused on what makes themselves comfortable than what might be good and helpful for the general population. Being an individual and knowing who you are and what you want to be is important to a successful life, but I believe that if you put some of that energy into caring about others society might have more cohesion.
Someone from a country where they view society as more of a collective might find the individualism of America a bit daunting. In a society where the community is the focus and the idea of the good of the whole instead of the “one” it might be hard to grasp that there’s a country that views life through the lens of individuality. As Americans we might be viewed as selfish by someone else from a country with different ideals. There is the stereotype that when Americans go abroad they are obnoxious and self-centered because they don’t familiarize themselves with the culture they are immersing themselves into. I believe that is because our education teaches us that we don’t need to focus on the societies of international countries but that leads to our detriment when we want to travel across the globe.
This exercise is helping me before I leave to go abroad because it lets me become introspective of what it is to be American and I know while I’m over in Ireland I will discover more characteristics that are solely American. This was also a good way for me to put myself in the shoes of someone who isn’t from my country and how the thought processes might be different because of culture differences and that is incredibly important for someone who will be immersed into a culture that isn’t their own.