Over the course of my recent trip home, I thought a lot about tradition and what tradition means for me and what it means to everyone else and of course, the importance of tradition.
After many months In New York City without a break, it tends to run someone into the ground. This is what happened with me. Non-stop since Christmas, and finally, early June, I was able to visit my family. Let the traditions commence.
I have always been a tradition man.
New Years Eve New York style – all my life.
Bratwurst and Sauerkraut on New Years Day.
Easter baskets on Easter Sunday.
Carving pumpkins with family.
And of course Thanksgiving , and my favorite, the Christmas traditions that consist of decorating my front porch and putting up my tree with my mom and brother. Memorial day picnics. Forth of July on Dewey Avenue. All perfect moments!
There are other traditions that we follow – and one of them I experienced last weekend as well – attending church.
St. Vitus is a huge church with a gigantic mural behind the alter. There are all the stories of the bible on this wall. The birth of Christ. The resurrection. His first miracle. His death. Do we attend church because it is in our hearts or do we attend it because it is tradition? Do we believe in the stories of the bible, deeply and whole-heartedly, or do we believe them because it was tradition for our family to teach them to us? Think about it.
What if these traditional beliefs were never passed on to us? What would we be like? Where would we be?
Sure, I like to think that I am not conventional, but yet still traditional. Can these two things co-exist? I think so. Why are we all so obsessed with keeping traditional values the same? Don’t misunderstand me – I am all for tradition, but sometimes the most amazing moments are the ones that go against the traditional traditions. I like to think that I will reinvent tradition with moments in my life. For example, I don’t think I’ll want to get married in a church. Why should I? Because that’s how everyone I know got married? Two of my best friends were married outside in a gazebo, nowhere near a church. These non-traditional weddings were my two favorites. When I am able to get married – I will keep the tradition alive, but I want to make it in my own way. On a beach in linen pants with my shirt off (when I get abs!) with about 20 members of my family there.
We are all free to invent our own lives. Play by our own rules. Create and mold our own traditions. End traditions to create new ones with new people. We are free to let traditions carry on from generation to generation – and hopefully, leave a little bit of us in each one.
Sure, I like to think that I am not conventional, but yet still traditional. Can these two things co-exist? I think so. Why are we all so obsessed with keeping traditional values the same? Don’t misunderstand me – I am all for tradition, but sometimes the most amazing moments are the ones that go against the traditional traditions. I like to think that I will reinvent tradition with moments in my life. For example, I don’t think I’ll want to get married in a church. Why should I? Because that’s how everyone I know got married? Two of my best friends were married outside in a gazebo, nowhere near a church. These non-traditional weddings were my two favorites. When I am able to get married – I will keep the tradition alive, but I want to make it in my own way. On a beach in linen pants with my shirt off (when I get abs!) with about 20 members of my family there.
We are all free to invent our own lives. Play by our own rules. Create and mold our own traditions. End traditions to create new ones with new people. We are free to let traditions carry on from generation to generation – and hopefully, leave a little bit of us in each one.
No comments:
Post a Comment