'Culture is one of those difficult words, an idea we toss around all the time to explain how we live and work together as a people. But what is "our" culture? And how do a people go about defining (or reshaping) culture?

I remember a story a friend once told me. Sister Mary Rose Christy was a young Catholic nun who loved upsetting the status quo. She was one of the first nuns to quit wearing a habit, she found bliss working with farm workers instead of being a nurse and she was impatient when tradition didn't seem to match the times.

She was particularly irritated by the culture surrounding her order's evening meal. After a day of action, this nun wanted to tell stories. She was eager to recruit -- and engage other sisters in her vital mission. But her order's tradition was for the sisters to eat silently while someone would read the Bible out loud.

When she asked, "why?" she heard the typical responses about tradition (and change). Essentially the answer was that it was always done that way.

But that is often true of the cultural traditions we hold dear. Someone, some time ago, had to start the thing off."

Get the Story:
: Our culture is a blend of others' ways (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3/26)

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