Cultural assumptions

One of the exercises in which we participated at the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium was listing unnamed cultural assumptions.  Here are some that were raised at the conference, mixed in with a few more of my own:

• Bigger and more is better
• Poor and hungry people are lazy
• Survival of the fittest wins; be it at the individual, corporate or national levels
• Jesus looked just like us
• My neighbors aren't interested in _____, therefore I don't talk with them about my areas of concern
• We are privileged in the United States to be "God's chosen people", not like the rest of the world
• We deserve the income we earn and our great abundance; we're entitled
• The more I buy, the more jobs I will create
• Other people will solve our problems
• Technology will solve our problems
• We can think our way out of situations we have acted ourselves into
• Professionals have the wisdom
• Consumer goods at the store reflect the accurate costs of production
• Clean water is an unlimited resource
• One person can't make a difference
• If you bet on the coach roaches everything will be fine
• People in third world nations are worse off than us
• We can have it all
• Grass is best for our yards
• Everything I need I can go and get immediately by car
• It is a "them" and "us" world
• There is scarcity of resources, therefore I can't afford to be generous
• Might makes right
• We deserve the income we earn

What cultural assumptions do you have that might need re-examining?

One disturbing observation was made regarding how residents of the US were once primarily identified as "citizens", but now are more likely to be labeled "consumers".  What a different perspective that puts on our roles.

Commitment card