Educated and well-civilized parents teach their children the roots and wings. The roots to know, where the home is and the wings to fly away and exercise what has been taught to them to keep them alive as modern and civilized as of any other cultures and traditions as a guidance in their natural growth towards a better life.
Basically, today’s so-called civilization and modernizationboth have long-lasting root grasped from our culture which is believed to be the most vital component of a society. It is further realized that the diversity of cultures is a fundamental fact and there is a need to protect it for the means of principles of taught and guidance to any direction we choose. This does not mean blind and indisputable protection but rather preserving the right values and customs of a culture with facts and adequate knowledge about its history.
However, the modern days have observed the renewal of arguments that have long involved thinkers and sociologists: What is the significance of basic ties, cultural roots and emotional bonds to people of the same culture? Is culture a guidance or a burden to humans? During the past few decades, there has been arise of interest in nations all over the world in problems related to the preservation and development of cultures and values of societies and nations. This essentially requires a sincere understanding of what culture really connotes and what are its implications and roles in a society where diversity of culture is practiced.
According to Edward Tayloran anthropologist,“culture includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, custom and many other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” To go into depth of it, other anthropologist defined culture as the collective programming of mind that distinguishes group or category of people, their norms and values from another.
Hence, it can be also gathered that culture represents the acquired knowledge and social behavior involving shared values, beliefs, norms and morals. It is manifested in the attitudes and approaches of people. Every society has an ideal culture and a real one. Cultures can be differentiated on the basis such as how people see themselves, people’s relationship to their world or environment, how people view time and space dimension. It is the collection of various components such as language, dress code, norms, laws and values. They may be rooted deeply into our history or maybe less essential to the continued existence of a society. Laws reflect a society’s traditional values or regulations of conduct in order to maintain the social order and justice.
In fact, the significance of a culture has been less known fact of our forefather’s gains and achievements in our country and still it is believed so. When the civil war began, the Taliban regime rewrote the history of Afghanistan by destroying the greatest Buddhas of Bamyan, one of the most important and reliable achievement remained from our forefathers. The mass destruction of Afghanistan’s greatest Buddhas were the utmost loss, not only for a particular tribe, but for the whole nation. Instead of protecting them, the so-called culture preservers supported the enemies to destroy them.
It has been all forgotten that culture develops man’s interiority and freedom, enabling people to fight against many odds and communicate with others. A strong cultural base leads to creativity, inventions, and discoveries. It is believed that there is a strong link between creativity and culture. Creative people carry with them various expressions and visions that are generated consciously or subconsciously through the reservoir of culture. Creative ideas arise out of the depth of mind, as it is the mind that directs our actions. This mind is shaped through a long cultural process, taught by our parents. When a society is ignorant of its past, the folk-literature of that nation can be reasonably regarded as the source of its history. This belief regards folk-literature as the cultural heritagethat is to preserve the socio-economic and linguistic patterns of a nation.
In many new cultures that are emerging, morals and ethics are fast vanishing among the people. The sacred institution of marriage has weakened and holds no meaning for the people, even start it for experiment to see if their thought and ideas are matching with each other. Psychological disorders among the children have increased due to the breakdown of the familial and relational ties. Social historians are discovering that the family, being a small unit of the society, has always reflected the values as well as the tensions of the larger society. Western nations today are deeply worried that it is raising a spoiled, indulgent generation. There have been many incidences of violence and killings by its younger generation. This social unrest may be due to various reasons, such as excessive watching of television,drug addiction, depression and psychological disorders.
Today the adopted cultures, lifestyle of a western has brought diverse problems in our society as a whole, especially to its cultural aspect. It seems unpleasant that people should think that following other cultures and lifestyles could enhance their status or bring them prosperity. People are trying to adopt alien or foreign culture, thus generating an impression of weak roots and tradition. This will uproot us, kill us, intoxicate our lives and destroy our society, particularly our next generation and our identity!
This cultural diffusion is spreading due to modern technology as it has shrunk the globe and led to easy adoption of elements of one culture by another. Over the last century, the major influence has been Western cultural penetration of most parts of the globe, particularly in Afghanistan. Both the developing and under developing nations believe that they are facing a serious threat of cultural invasion through the advent of globalization with worst impact on non-civilized nation.
The so-called modernization and civilization can be welcomed if it contributes to our wisdom, outlook, developing a positive mentality and nurturing great thoughts. There is a need to understand the strength and importance of traditions, cultures and civilization. Modernization is to be welcomed and ushered into our society but the old values, norms and morals are not supposed to be uprooted, ignored and disregarded. Otherwise, it will kill the very sprit of our culture, our identity and our origin.