Cultural Relativism Throughout the World

      I found the article called "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism" to be quite interesting.  It was about something that is a very common obstacle for many people throughout their lifetime.  The idea that different cultures have different moral codes creates the questions, "Is this something that can affect my life?" and "What do people from other cultures think of the way that I live my life?"  I am able to provide some insight into these questions due to personal experience in this area. 
      Over the past couple of months I have been able to get to know a foreign exchange student from The Netherlands.  He is studying at Millersville University and will be staying in the United States for the next semester.  He often asks many questions about myself and my daily routine.  It seems to be interesting to him because it is so different from the way he lived back home.  In the article it talked about how the Greeks would be in shock if they were asked to eat the bodies of their dead fathers.  I remember a couple weeks ago, the exchange student from The Netherlands called me to say in a very panicked voice, "My friends just made me eat bear and deer meat."  This was something unheard of when he was living back home in The Netherlands.  He seemed to be very disturbed that Americans eat deer (venison) meat, which is very similar to the reaction the Greeks had to the thought of eating their dead fathers corpses. 
      There are also many jobs in the world that allow people to experience many different cultures.  This means that in order to do this type of job you must be willing to work with people who may have different morals than you and you must be prepared for some confusion between the different cultures that you are going to be working with.  Some of these jobs may include certain types of engineering that go over seas to bring clean water to different countries or people who work in the government and then have to make peace with the governments in other countries.  For both of these jobs it is important that you have a good understanding of cultural relativism and that you are up for the challenge of working with people who are used to living a completely different life that you.