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Graham Lyerly Sarah Agner ENGL 1102 Mrs. Raymond 27 February 2014 Our Family Connection Through brainstorming this project we talked about several possible ideas that would work for our research project. Yet, after writing down many options, we realized that many similarities are shared throughout both of our families. By both of us growing up near the same town, we share many of the same values and beliefs. We both attended the same middle and high school as the same as our parents. In writing this paper, we realized how much more we have in common than we ever noticed before. In addition, we have realized how we were raised as children is becoming a dying tradition among families in America. For this paper, we will focus on the religion, hard work, and outdoor passion our families share. One important aspect of both our families would be religion and our faith to God. For generations, both of our families have attended Lutheran churches, in which we were baptized into as infants. We both did not attend the same church, yet both congregations have a traditional and conservative style. The Lutheran religion may be considered old school and boring to people of this generation yet it is the way we were raised to worship our Lord. A Lutheran church service may seem too boring due to the fact that we read out of hymnals and sing old songs. Now there is a focus on a lot of new style of churches with a more of contemporary style of worship. These churches tend to have bands that play music and offer more entertainment than focus on the word of the Lord. While nothing is wrong with any type of religious denomination, we are just stating our views from a Lutheran standpoint. As statistics show, over the past 30 and

40 years, church attendance numbers have dramatically decreased, leaving only 20% of the U.S. population as church goers (7 startling facts). As the numbers decrease in this aspect, it can also be a reason for the rise in crime and easily influenced teenagers. Through attending church we not only learn to give thanks to the Lord for all we have, yet it also gives us strong moral values to live our everyday life. One important aspect of our families is to regulary set time aside for the Lord, along with family, while we always remember to give thanks before we sit down for our meal. It is often found that people who regularly attend church are also the families that sit down together at the dinner table and say a prayer before the meal. Through research, only 44% of Americans say grace before each meal (Bless this food). Hunting has been an important aspect of both our families lives for many generations. Back in the old days, hunting became known as a tradition in order to gain food and keep your family alive. Now days, huntings purpose has switched from a way to survive, to more of a recreation and pastime. Our grandparents were faced with many hardships and expenses to overcome with the hard-earned income they received. While groceries could be purchased at local stores, our families simply didnt have enough money to buy all the food they needed. To provide quality food for their families, our grandfathers went hunting for animals in order to gain free meat. Hunting and fishing was their main sources of food, along with the crops they grew in their gardens. We were both taught at an early age the importance and safety of hunting. In todays time, we dont necessarily have to hunt for survival, yet our families still do in order to keep the tradition alive and a way to spend quality time together. Yet still, the meat from every kill is still handled with the same respect just as our grandfathers did, and help to provide great meals for our families. We believe that hunting gives people an appreciation for the outdoors and

animals. Hunting not only provides for a sport and food, it also teaches us respect for the outdoors and all of Gods many creations. Another similarity between our families is that hard work and dedication paved the road for success. Through talking, we realized that both of our grandfathers were hard working brick masons. They worked day in, day out in harsh conditions just in order to pay the bills so their family could make it. This effort provided a suitable income which enabled them to work for everything they own today. As crazy as it may sound, our grandfathers spent the sum of the day laying brick, yet they also had to come home and tend a farm full of cow and crops. This proved the dedication of doing whatever it takes in order to make ends meet. We both share a great amount of respect and appreciation to them for all they have done and taught us. They have taught us to work hard for what we want and to focus less on gaining stuff from others. These values have been passed down to our parents, which they used as a main focus in our youth for teaching us the ways of life. Both our fathers had experience of working with their fathers and learning their way of work. Experience like this is a great bonding experience between fathers and their sons which typically carry out over a long time period (Blackwell). As young children, we both learned how to help out in any we could to benefit our family. We were also were taught right from wrong and the manners we should use when we are talking with people. Not only did we use these manners with our families, we also were taught to use these around any elders of people we come in contact with. Many children today lack this essential quality of a structured parenthood where they did not learn these values. We believe that by the way our parents were raised in a traditional southern household translated into why the way we are today.

Works Cited
Blackwell, Terry. "The Pros and Cons of Working for Your Dad | Post Grad Problems. Post Grad Problems. N.p., 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

"Bless This Food." Beliefnet. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. "7 Startling Facts: An Up Close Look at Church Attendance in America." ChurchLeaders.com Church Leaders, 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.