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The record shows that our greatest creations have been done either in
accordance with or in defiance of tradition.
First of all, most traditions involve a deadline because they come around on schedule,
like Passover, Easter, and Ramadan. And we all know what wonders
deadlines
do for creative people.
Secondly, traditions offer a ready platform on which people with creative possibilities
can readily perform. Whose first stage appearance wasn't some tradition-based school
pageant? Just get Uncle Louie in to his Santa outfit and he's suddenly transformed into an
actor. What fools we make of ourselves on Halloween!
But traditions can't give us their full benefit until we really get to know them. And that
often means challenging traditions. Even breaking with them.
Humans are curious creatures. We change and we stay the same. The part that stays the same
thrives on tradition. The part that must change, often in order to survive, needs to
challenge authority and break with tradition. But our best traditions—the ones that
remain—are built to withstand our defiance.
They're meant to show us how to act, not what to do. Follow them mindlessly and they lose
their meaning. Put them to the test of skepticism even our cynicism, and we crack their
code. Only then can we decide to embrace them or forget them all together.
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