The Hourglass and the Treble Clef


To me, my culture is defined by my values and by the way I choose to live my life. There are so many aspects that can define a culture, such as the foods people eat or the way that people talk or act. People will often associate a symbol with an aspect of their culture so as to remind them of where they came from. Two of the biggest and most important symbols in my life are the treble clef and the hourglass. The treble clef represents my passion and need for music in my life, and the hour glass represents the way that I look at life. Both of these values have shaped me into who I am today, and both of these values will continue to shape me into the person I will be for the rest of my life.
Have you ever sat and watched the sand run through an hourglass? The sand doesn’t stop rolling down until the very last grain falls, and that’s when it’s finally over. There is no better way for me to describe the way I live my life better than just simply looking at an hourglass. Just like the sand in an hourglass, life continues to go on and the last grain will not stop or give up until my life is over. Thinking of an hourglass and reminding myself of the brevity of life has helped me get through a lot of rough patche. For example, when my mom and dad were going through a divorce when I was younger, I wanted so badly for the sand to move faster. I forced myself to grow up faster because I thought that I had to be strong. Even though in my head I was making the sand move faster, it didn’t actually help. As much as I have wanted my life to speed up, I also remember wanting my hourglass to slow down so that I could stay in a moment forever. When I was in LA the summer before my sophomore year of college, I would have done anything to stay there. That week was one of the best weeks of my life. Feeding the homeless and being able to love people who didn’t even know what love was, was something that I would give my whole life to be able to do again. I let the hourglass represent this because it reminds me that life does go on. Even if we are in a place that we want to slow down or speed up, life is going to coninue on at the exact same pace, and I have to keep reminding myself that I can’t change anything about it.
The second symbol I use to represent my culture is the treble clef. Music has been a huge part of my life ever since I was just a kid. Growing up with my mom, I don’t think there was ever a time when we didn’t have something playing on the radio. Even if my time with my dad was limited because he left when I was young, I will never forget lying in bed with him while listening to classical rock. Without music in my childhood, I don’t think I would be such a musical person today. In 8th grade, I let my dad back into my life, and everything was going great. Life was finally back to normal, and I was no longer the person who didn’t have a dad. Now I had two younger brothers who I loved to death, but one day when I came home from school, my mom hit me with the news that my dad had fallen back into some old habits of his and he had been sentenced to six months in prison. At this point I felt betrayed and lied to, but after a while, I found a song that hit me like a freight train when I heard it. Unfortunately I cannot remember its name. However, that song changed my life, and today, I fully devote myself to music. I have let music become my life and I am perfectly okay with that. My life revolves around it, and I plan on sharing my love for music for the rest of my life, because I plan to become a music teacher. The love I have for music is far more than the love I have for anything else.
My culture, to me, is the way I live my life and the values that I will live with for the rest of my life. Sand in an hourglass symbolizes how life goes on and that it’s not going to stop for anything, nor will it speed up. Music has been, and always will be, a huge part of my life. Both of these aspects of my personal culture will forever shape me as a person. I will always live in the moment and with a song stuck in the back of my head.