Ordinary Life free essay sample

Is what is common to one person common to all people? I feel that the answer to this is, no. I believe that each individual has their own opinion of what is common place, and that their attitudes are based on their lives, and experiences. Factors like affluence, culture, and ability directly affect how one views what is considered to be ordinary. When reflecting on what is common to me versus what is common to others, I realize that what I find normal or ordinary is not the same as what my brother finds to be familiar, and the main reason for this may be socioeconomic.My brother, whom is much more affluent than I am, would find taking public transportation to be an out of the ordinary way to get somewhere. He has never had need to make use of public transportation. Because of this, he would feel out of place using Port Authority. We will write a custom essay sample on Ordinary Life or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I, on the other hand, had made use of public transportation for many a year. Although I now own and operate my own vehicle, I would not feel uncomfortable riding a bus to downtown. I have done it so many times previous that to me it has become commonplace.Another, yet more extreme way of looking at this could be to compare what a homeless person and a millionaire have in common. My educated hypothesis would be to say â€Å"not too much. † They, therefore would find entirely different things to be ordinary. Holiday celebrations are yet another example of ways in which people’s views on cohesion and commonality differ culturally. My boyfriend and his family are Jewish, and therefore celebrate holidays like Hanukah and Passover. Whereas my family and I were raised Roman Catholic and celebrate Christmas and Easter, respectively. For me, the Jewish holidays are extraordinary, they are not commonplace. Being in attendance of these celebrations is unfamiliar. To the contrary, my boyfriend has no feelings of misplacement at a Christmas dinner or Easter brunch. As a result of our different cultural beliefs, what we deem ordinary, culturally, is quite different. Again, if we wish to examine a more extreme case, we could look at the difference in meat shopping in Austria versus meat shopping in the U. S. Not many United Sates citizens would find it ordinary to purchase a live chicken, but in Austria is would be a perfectly ordinary occurrence. Ability is an additional factor when determining what is viewed as ordinary to some and not others. A non- disabled person would find playing a game of â€Å"pick-up† football in their backyard, with their neighbors and friends to be perfectly ordinary Saturday afternoon activity. A disabled person in a wheelchair may not find it so. Therefore what is ordinary to some is not ordinary to all. The levels to which we deem activities or events to be commonplace depends upon our perceived notions of commonality, and these notions are, in fact, contingent upon affluence, culture and ability.