we are "creatures of our culture"

I completely agree with Ruth Benedict, and the concept that we are the creatures of our culture, there are so many things that we adopt to and it becomes a part of us. I was born and raised in a different country until I was 12 years old, and I can assure you that by the age of 12 I was a creature of Ukraine. I did not notice the cultural differences until I came to USA and started meeting people from different cultures. Many times when we look at other cultures, we can judge them for not doing things the way we do, but that is the time when we get a chance to learn something new and maybe even break through the limits of our cultures, all we need is an open mind. In Ukraine there are many traditional things that imply to getting married, as far as wedding reception, before the wedding specific traditional dinners. There are traditions about the amount of guests that need to be invited, and parents invite their friends to their kid's wedding, and when younger generation of Ukrainians came to America they wanted to break through and adapt to some American cultural traditions,  as you can imagine that was not easy. Older Ukrainian generation came here, and they don't want to change their habits, they feel like the younger Ukrainians are obligated to follow the traditions, and not want to adapt to other cultural views. Many parents have conflicts with their soon to be married kids, because they chose to have a small wedding and decided to invite only their friends, and have Chinese food for their wedding reception. That kind of situation can spark up a big argument before weddings, and that is why many times you can witness a Ukrainian wedding for 500 people, with traditional Ukrainian food. But there are people who are willing to adapt change and have an open mind to other cultural traditions. I always said that Ukrainians are too stubborn to change, and I made up my mind after I had a huge wedding myself, basically because I wanted to keep the peace in the families. Sometimes its hard to break through if it involves other people. But after living in the US for 15 years I can easily say that there are many things that changed, and many young Ukrainian couples do have American style weddings, and even their parents don't mind, so that once again proves that it is possible to change habits.