PFWV

Before I read Miner's article, I was unable to think of folklore in my life that affected my worldview. While explaining how the Nacirema people would brutalize there bodies through ritual just because as children they learned that it was right, I finally understood the role folklore had played in shaping my worldview.

The folklore of my life is drastically less interesting than the folklore of the Nacirema. My worldview was substantially developed both by my father and my mother. My mother, being a physical therapist, worked with children who were handy capped. She was constantly coming home and telling us stories of these people's hardships. She told us stories of children who couldn't walk, but would try so unbelievably hard to just be normal. She mostly worked with lower income families who were struggling to put food on the table, let alone pay for the physical therapy of their child. These stories effected me from an early age. I remember befriending a girl in middle school who had cerebal palsy. I had friends who heckled me for talking to her, but I could never get the stories of the children my mom worked with, and their constant longing just to be viewed as normal. So, I payed no attention to my friends and really tried to engage people with handicaps as humans, and not cripples. I have always had a interest in children. Because of this, I took up a job as a camp counselor. My second summer at this job I was placed in a location just outside of Richmond city, which was historically very poor. These children would come to camp with just a piece of bread for lunch or no lunch at all. Looking back on these situations, I can only say I sacrificed my lunch for these children almost everyday because of the stories my mother would tell me when I was a child. These families were not trying to treat their children like this, but they literally couldn't afford to send them with anymore food.

My father affected my worldview as well, but he affected it in a much more interesting way. My father was very unconcerned with time. We would constantly be late for baseball games, birthday parties, and school. I would get so angry at him because of this that I have never since been late. I would much rather get somewhere an hour early and have to burn time than to arrive late or even on-time because it makes me anxious. From this, I have developed a view of people who are constantly late. I think them to be very disrespectful and inconsiderate. It they used there time more effectively they could be on time.

My folklore definitely affected my worldview. From my mothers stories to my fathers traditions of being late, they all had an effect of on how I act and view people in this world. Having never thought through this before, I would hesitant to attempt this blog. I could not think of any folklore so substantial as to really shape my views. But, looking back after the readings and this assignment, I can see that every view I hold is rooted in folklore.