Blogg post #2

   In my opinion, I believe it is safe to say that for thousands of years, people have always migrated to different parts of the world, some settling into places that were not their original birthplace. While reading our class textbook, I found very interesting that during the Roman empire, different people were granted citizenship in the empire and found it even more interesting that while they became citizens, Strayer points out that once a citizen, this conveyed more as a legal status and did not erase other identities. Coming from a background with parents who were born in Mexico and moving to the States when my parents were teenagers, once my parents became citizens of the United States my father had to choose whether to be fully an American citizen and resign being a Mexican citizen which in tern, made him feel like he was loosing his identity altogether. My father, of course, chose to be a citizen of the U.S. and felt a sense of guilt. A few years later, my mother gained citizenship and was able to apply for dual citizenship. I just find it interesting how, over time, things can change and how for each individual it could be different. Both my parents still hold a lot of pride of being citizens and still being able to hold on to their culture and passing on their passion of culture on to their children. I myself, was born in the states, but hold dear to my heart my Mexican-American culture. Unfortunately, when we visit my parent's birthplace, not everyone considers me Mexican and instead remind me that I'm an American citizen and because of that I will never really know what Mexican culture is all about. I am happy with what I do know and thank my parents for planting that seed.
   As I continued reading, I found myself lost in the readings about the different religions practiced around the world. Some of the religions I had knowledge about such as Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Christianity, and others I had never heard about or forgot about them. What I enjoyed the most was relearning about where each religion originated from and how different people continue to practice them. For example, how Buddhism originated from India, but now is widely practiced in China. This kind of information is what sparks my interest because I feel more engaged in what I'm reading and mapping the different places in my head to get a bigger picture. Out of all the religions we read about in chapter 5, Buddhism was the religion that sparked the most interest. This was because Strayer mentions that the Buddha, Suddhartha Guatama, allowed nuns in the practice of Buddhism but still had to follow strict rules. I found this to be contradicting because the Buddha rejected the practice of the Indian cast system yet the Nuns were still required to follow some rules the male Monks didn't. Even with those rules, many women did become Nuns due to the advantage of being a little more independent and finding inner peace. As a non-practice Catholic, I always find myself praying in times of difficulty and in times of happiness. At times, I feel I apply some Buddhism thinking and apply it to how I'm feeling at those given moments. For example, trying to stay positive and know that things will get get better during hard times, I also believe in Karma even though Karma doesn't have anything to do with being Catholic, but being exposed to different religions and practices, can change the way a person lives their life and how they view the world.