It is so fascinating how structure defines place and it’s society. We are so accustomed to where we are that we forget to stop and notice the way in which we subconsciously conform to the movement that surrounds us. Yes we feel free, but what we often forget to realise is that there is a lingering influence; a very subtle system that identifies our existence in a place.

Something as simple as the movement of cars: When arriving in America I noticed that the flow in which I walked the streets was interrupted. I was not in sync with my surroundings. I struggled with the simple task of passing someone in a crowded hallway; for we would both move to the same side when trying to give space. I soon realised that in America, a country where people drive on the right side of the road, they also walk to the right.

It was then interesting to notice how others on this trip faced the same issue in a country where people drive on the left side. It was not only in America where the simple system in which cars abide, people abide too. This made me think. What else are we oblivious to that the laws of our societies lead us to do? Which of our decisions are innately ours? And how much of whom we are is influenced by a system?

This is how system defines culture, or how culture defines the system. More importantly, how system and culture feed off one another; survive because of the existence of the other. And we function due to the existence of both.