Sociology Week 6

This week in sociology class we watched a documentary, "God Grew Tired of Us". It was about a group called "The Lost Boys" from Sudan who were brought to America as refugees. In the movie they experienced severe culture shock, from balloons, to electricity, to doughnuts- there is no way for them to have known these things that are so familiar to us. It was interesting because although they were living a very comfortable life compared to their life in Sudan, (having a job, sleeping in a bed, having enough food to eat/water to drink, living in an apartment, etc.) they still missed Sudan greatly. They missed the strong bonds they had with everyone there, calling American culture very lonely. Over here, you aren't able to talk to strangers without being called weird. One of the boys who worked in a grocery store noticed this woman who was crying and was so surprised and saddened by the fact that no one went to her to ask her what was wrong.

This isolation can definitely apply to my life in a way that I don't really want it to. Just the other day my mom was telling me how I'm always in my room with my door closed and I don't mingle with my family as much as I should. She continued and said that if I had been raised in India like her and my dad, that would never be okay. India's culture is much more similar to Sudan in that way. Normally I probably would have shrugged my mom's comments off, but after seeing this movie I really want to make it a point to go beyond the norm and be more sociologically mindful of how I further contribute to the isolation of American society.