Root and the Meaning of Culture

A summarized definition of culture is the specialized behavioral patterns, understandings, adaptions, and social systems that make up a group of peoples way of life. Culture is learned, not biological. The level of learning is affected by age, sex, status, or occupation. We are all born into certain, already defined cultures based on learned behaviors ranging from the language spoken to the tools used or games played. We, as the human race, have historically seen the possibilities of improving or utilizing the natural landscape that is our environment to make the quality of our lives easier to manage.

Our ancestors in the Paleolithic ages struggled to survive using basic skills as hunters and gatherers, and then advanced to the Mesolithic ages transitioning to a culture that produced many of their own sources of food by domesticating plants and animals making better use of their natural resources. Our ancestors were progressive and formed the viewpoint that they as people, not the environment, were the forces to bring cultural development. This brought about the innovative period known as the Neolithic ages. With the use of new innovations to make daily survival less difficult they were afforded more leisure time to accelerate the development of culture.

Over thousands of years we have had a desire to improve the quality of our lives. By making these improvements, we have had to communicate with and learn from others. We have found or designed shelter to protect us from the natural elements of our local environment. We have buried our loved ones either above or below ground as our environment would allow. To be successful and coexist, we have learned for the most part to understand and respect the diversity of people within our society. I have always felt that we must be aware that we are citizens of the world as well as the communities in which we live. We must learn to take care of our natural resources and be mindful that there are limits to the carrying capacity of our environment. We require food sources and safe drinking water to meet our most basic needs. For success in the advancement of our world, we must be mindful to use our moral compass as well as a mechanical compass for proper direction in our world development.

As there have been generations before us, there are sure to be many generations to follow. We must accept as our responsibility the need to protect our planet earth and to preserve all that is valuable as a necessity for the survival of mankind and all of its diversity.