Why We Are Who We Are

567 Words3 Pages
How does one’s personal heritage affect one’s duties to our nation? Why We Are Who We Are Heritage is our history, our different knowledge, the values and traditions that we have developed with a combination of genes and culture over time. Heritage, whether it be cultural, national, or just in our families is an endowment of legacies; but foremost, heritage is our history. It is responsible for how we came to be, it is a very large part of who and what we are, and it can determine what we will become. As humans, we possess free agency; we can determine our future to great degrees with one simple decision, we may deceive ourselves into believing the past has no impact on us; however, the choices we make and past events we have witnessed have very profound and long-lasting impacts on any decision we have made, are making now, or ever will make. Heritage is an unconscious accumulation of heredity, judgments, and environmental factors that have individually affected us all, and continues to affect us. Because our heritage is such an essential part of life, because we cannot make a decision outside of its context, and because no one can disassociate it from themselves, it is imperative for us to know about, understand, and embrace our heritage. Being aware of our heritage assists in appreciating what we have and to see our shortcomings so they can be addressed in the future. Acknowledging one's heritage is a prerequisite fund of knowledge that is needed in order to take actions to sustain our way of life. In order to preserve our heritage, it is our duty to educate others who do not know better and to remind ourselves of the sacrifices that have been made that developed our nation’s heritage into what it is today. The children that live in today’s world are bombarded by the information of our nation’s past, present, and future; they are in dire need to be enlightened
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