Tradition: Maker and Breaker

Tradition! The word rolls of my lips, seemingly lifeless, and yet brimming with power. What does it mean? Dictionary.com brings across the idea of passing down beliefs, statements, customs, legends, practices, or information from generation to generation. A customary method or manner, a long-established way of thinking or acting. It is what was always done for no reason other then it was always done. On the surface it seems empty. Pointless. Why do something just because it was done that way in the past? Are we not creatures of logic?

And then we turn to the source of power behind this word. Tradition. The smell of freshly cooked egg burritos on Christmas morning. The feeling of the first snowball slowly forming into a snowman. Buying a flimsy tree with Charlie Brown. Going to that one park to look at the sunset like you did with that special someone.  It could come in the form of a 25 cent piece of candy, or a 250 dollar TV. A frozen pizza, or a brand new car. Tradition can come in every form imaginable, depending on the individual. So what is the common factor? Memories. Doing what was always done, because it was always done that way, is a way we can connect with the past. It puts us back in the arms of loved ones to walk alone a path that was once walked together. It is a form of bonding when one shares the same experiences with others year after year.

I don't think anyone will argue that traditions in the above sense is bad. But what when we are ripped away from such things? When what is the normal, becomes painful? When the sunset becomes stained with memories of what once was, but is no longer? When loneliness sweeps in like the wind and poisons our new experiences with want for the old? Traditions that once made memories, no break us. We watch the sunset over the lake of old, but now we lack the warmth that made the memory special.

Tradition. Maker and Breaker.