In the reading “The Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation” cultural exchange is defined by the understanding and respect for others cultural background. This involves the things we wear, religion, and traditions. We are constantly being judged by the things we wear and by our traditions without a complete understanding for the reason why we do the things we do. I feel this is a problem all cultures face and is even a problem within western culture. In the western culture there are people who have different religious beliefs, for example the differences between Baptists and Christian. We also have a tendency to put constant pressure to believing one way of thinking is correct, while others are wrong.
I would like to share an experience I had with the struggle of western cultural exchange and trying to believe there way of thinking is correct, while mine is wrong. When I was in High school I worked a part time job at a gas station. I would have customers from different cultural backgrounds. Now to kind of rewind a little bit. I am not a real religious person and it has been my choice to do so because I have read about different religions and talked to people from different culture, but I could not confine myself to believing one is correct over others. I feel there are pros and cons to all cultures. Plus I enjoy learning about other cultures because it gives you an understanding for the people of the culture. Any ways I had a customer come in and they came from a Baptist religious background. Then when I was helping them they handed me a pamphlet on there Baptist beliefs without asking if I would like one. I very politely asked them what the pamphlet was a bout and why am I being handed one. They simple said they were handing the pamphlet out to everyone spread the word of God. I very politely asked if they would take the pamphlet back because the gas stations policy does not discriminate against other religions and as a result we can not accept the pamphlet. The persons responded by telling me it was even more imperative that I keep the pamphlet and be enlightened by the word of God. Simply they were trying to tell me I was uneducated. So I respectively took the pamphlet and set it to the side just to get the person out of the store because I could also see they were upsetting other customers. I later gave the pamphlet to my manager and explained what had happened.
Cultures every where don’t just fail with cultural exchange with other cultures, but they have problems within as well. We seem to think that one culture or belief is correct, while others are not. As a human race we need to understand and respect other cultural beliefs and religious beliefs. We must avoid putting pressure on others to adopt there way of thinking is wrong and respect them for who they are as a person.