Tradition?

[Lyle1]

Traditions exist only because they are of benefit to the majority of the people involved in that activity. That activity might be living in a certain country, or being part of a family, or following a particular profession or sport, or one of the many other things to which people align themselves i.e. kilt wearing.



Of course they do. We are all hand crafted by the traditions that have been in place since the day we were born. I think you have broken your tenet every day of your life and that is no bad thing.

Regards

Chas

Traditions are not bad, but I cannot agree with that they only exist when they benefit the majority.

Who benefits when tradition dictates the color of one's shoes or sporran or by being told what to wear for every occasion? Maybe the people who make and sell shoes, or maybe the socioeconomic class can afford the prescribed fashions and thus function on a higher social plain than those who cannot.

Are we handcrafted by the traditions that were in place since the day we were born? Many social traditions that limited the rights of minorities were happily embraced when I was a child have been largely, and I think, rightfully, rejected.

Traditions can provide a guideline for how we live our lives, but I think each of us has the right, and even, a responsibility to reject some traditions that for whatever reason, we find unacceptable.


The American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, expressed it better than I do:

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."