This past weekend my family and I went to my grandpa’s farm in western Minnesota. When you drive up the driveway to my grandpa’s farm, the barn is the first thing you see. As long as I have known, his old barn has slowly been falling apart, now to the point where there are only few beams in the center holding it up until a good storm or snowfall or a particularly windy day. But at one point, when my dad was growing up and the family farm was in full swing, that barn was the center of the farm. It was the place where livestock was housed and equipment was stored and was the symbol of the family farm and business. Now, to any passersby, the farm reads ‘eyesore’—it is obviously run down and no longer in service, the land possibly even uninhabited. But to me, it represents all of my family’s history and my dad’s childhood. I can picture the barn when it was being used and filled with animals. My family is very important to me, and when I visit the farm, it’s just a symbol of everything that my family means to me. My position on the barn is that it represents my family and their culture. Though none of my family is farmers today, all the previous generations were and that really shows my culture and the lifestyle my family lives today because of that upbringing. Personally, I like the way the barn looks and photographs and used to love exploring around the farm and inside, even though it's not safe anymore.
I found this post to be quite interesting because coming from rural, North Eastern Wisconsin, and living on a farm, I have a barn that looks similar to this. I like the way you said that the barn represents your family and your culture because I feel the same way. Growing up on farm has shaped me into the person I am today and my animals were a huge part of that. To me, my barn reminds me of all the fun I had in it, but also the work that I did in it. I agree with you that many people look at barns like this and talk about how people need to clean up their place, but they don't appreciate the meaning that it has to someone else. I think that that goes for many things in our society today; too often people make judgments based on their own position without taking into account others feelings, beliefs, or cultures.
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