Nontraditional Traditions :: essays research papers

Nontraditional Tradtions     We sound in an age in which it is hard to spend time together as a family.Many families forthwith wonder if having quality time together is a thing of thepast. We are inordinately busy, for one thing, whether household bread-winnersor college students. Also, the definition of family has changed. We aredealing with innovative definitions and characterizations of the idea of family. Someof us have traditional families. Some families have divorced, single, and/orremarried parents, creating a rather confusing family tree. Some people chooseto live their lives alone, but may still be close enough to some friends toconsider them family.     Whatever the circumstances, many of us honestly dont know how tocelebrate together. We may even see the word "tradition" as somethingstultifying and old, having no meaning for or application to us personallysomething usually being forced upon us by someone who smells funny and is onlyseen on holidays. What all of this means is that we can no longer simply followthe examples of old. It is up to us to manufacture new family traditions.Celebrating is not hard. We all know about celebrating and have some ways ofdoing it. The only challenge is to find new ways. Why do we convey to celebratetradition? It gives us something to look forward to and makes a formalstatement that there are some things in life to be refreshing for.     The notion of honoring tradition is unsettling for some people letalone creating new ones. We understand that we need something to add a sense oforder and perceptual constancy to our lives. But we are not sure about how to create ourown traditions. We seem to think that traditions must be heavy and complexideas that had been around for hundreds of eld and will be around for ahundred more. In my opinion, this is not true. It need not be big or religiousat all. I believe a tradition is something that you do o nce that feels good, soyou do it again and again.     The tale in Frosts "Mending Wall" can be viewed as an impromptutradition. The two neighbors needing to repair the wall after the winter chill,find time to converse with each other about whats on their minds.     For example, every sunlight my dad makes tea and puts out two cups, hisand mine. I am used to this. If I had to reach in the cupboard to get my owncup, something would be wrong. As it is, I get up out of my bed, I go into