Not My Favorite

Original Post

I think that tradition is important in our lives. With that said, I also believe that we need to question why we have these traditions and whether we should embrace them especially if they hinder our own identities. Not participating in some family traditions can for example cause a member of the family to be "shunned" and I do have a hard time with this, I don't think that you should have to participate in something you do not believe in. 

Revised Post
Are established traditions guiding influences or are they limiting?  Should we question the origins or purposes of our culture’s traditions?

This depends on the tradition in question. For example, in “Let Me Find My Own Husband” by Sarita James, we see the tradition of arranged marriage being very limited for the author. She changes a lot of her views and principles to follow along with this tradition and finds that it doesn’t work out for her. In the end she rightly questions whether this tradition is really right for her and tells her parents to “call off the search”. (James, 382)

  What takes precedence, our search for our own identity or our adherence to our culture’s traditions?

Culture is a part of our identities and for some this question is a hard one. I think that there is a delicate balance here when it comes to deciding who we are and whether our cultural traditions come into conflict with that. We have to be who we are ultimately, and if some traditions are not right for us than that is up to each of us to decide.

If we shun our culture’s traditions, should we be shunned ourselves (or should we shun those who don’t follow them)? 

 Not participating in some family traditions can for example cause a member of the family to be "shunned" and I do have a hard time with this, I don't think that you should have to participate in something you do not believe in. It would also have to depend on the severity of non-conformity. I don’t think that non-conformity should be used to measure someone’s worth.

Is society becoming more accepting of transgressions, of non-conforming behavior?

Today’s society has become very accepting of non-conforming behavior. I find this a hard subject because I do believe we need to be accepting in this area, however, if we accept everything where does that really leave us?