2008 Woodie Awards
Reflections: It's Tradition!
Shoshana Flax
Issue date: 12/10/03 Section: Opinion
Apologies to any heads that now have Fiddler on the Roof music stuck in them. While most of our lives aren't as governed by tradition as those of Tevye and his family, there are quite a few things we do simply because, well, we always do them.
Just look at the holiday season. While some holiday TV specials may be worth watching to the point of memorization, I suspect that many of them get their high viewership from people hoping to relive the warmth and accompanying fuzziness of Decembers past. As a friend of mine said recently, "It's not Christmas until I hear this song." (The song: "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.")
Why do traditions matter so much to us? Why do my cousins and I still perform the secret handshake we invented ten years ago? Why do professors wear those rather clownish robes at Convocation? Each custom may have its benefits (with all due respect to Goucher's great faculty members, those robes are quite entertaining), but in many cases, the chief motive for continuing some traditions seems to be that no one wants to be the one to change them.
In fact, any such change is upsetting. Think about it. If you've ever been to Disney World, think of the It's a Small World ride. It's long, it's slow, it's repetitive, it's repetitive, it's repetitive. If Disney World ever shut it down, though, I imagine there would be a major outcry. Sing it with me: It's tradition, after all.
It's like we've made promises to ourselves-that we will always shout "GROW!" at the flowers we plant, always count down turnpike exits on family vacations, and always, always, tell the same dumb jokes as the occasion merits. Stopping, even when that Thanksgiving game of Mad Libs gets a little old, feels disloyal.
Of course, some traditions really do have a point. Taking the same group picture every time the family gets together may seem redundant, but the point is that it's not exactly the same picture each time, and in a few years, it'll be fun to look back and watch younger relatives grow tall and older relatives grow gray. Camping outside SAS at seven a.m. certainly helps in getting those courses, besides being kind of fun if you have a positive attitude and a cup of hot chocolate. (A similar practice outside Barnes and Noble when each Harry Potter book comes out is just as necessary and-let's be honest-a lot more fun.)
Then, of course, there are Goucher's official traditions. Some of them may seem a little silly-when Spirit Week featured a Dance Around Yo' Hat Day, I felt no overwhelming need to participate, as I have no particular fondness for either dancing or hats. On Pajama Day, though, the opposite is the case. That tradition needs to live on! My favorite Goucher ritual, however (and I'm not biased at all, of course), is The Undecim, the April Fool's Day Edition of this very publication. It's definitely the most fun one can have in ::ahem:: journalism. This year's list of ideas is already a page and a half long.
Traditions are certainly a good thing when they're actually fun or useful. Hot chocolate in the winter is a good custom, and so are snowball fights. They're good if they give you something to look forward to, as in the case of my mother's twice-a-year chocolate cheesecake (and most food traditions, actually). I think, though, that the main reason we hold onto our customs for so long is the warmth-and-fuzziness ingredient, with its heavy remember-when content. Admit it - remembering when you weren't too old to bring home the first dandelion of the season feels pretty good.
Just look at the holiday season. While some holiday TV specials may be worth watching to the point of memorization, I suspect that many of them get their high viewership from people hoping to relive the warmth and accompanying fuzziness of Decembers past. As a friend of mine said recently, "It's not Christmas until I hear this song." (The song: "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.")
Why do traditions matter so much to us? Why do my cousins and I still perform the secret handshake we invented ten years ago? Why do professors wear those rather clownish robes at Convocation? Each custom may have its benefits (with all due respect to Goucher's great faculty members, those robes are quite entertaining), but in many cases, the chief motive for continuing some traditions seems to be that no one wants to be the one to change them.
In fact, any such change is upsetting. Think about it. If you've ever been to Disney World, think of the It's a Small World ride. It's long, it's slow, it's repetitive, it's repetitive, it's repetitive. If Disney World ever shut it down, though, I imagine there would be a major outcry. Sing it with me: It's tradition, after all.
It's like we've made promises to ourselves-that we will always shout "GROW!" at the flowers we plant, always count down turnpike exits on family vacations, and always, always, tell the same dumb jokes as the occasion merits. Stopping, even when that Thanksgiving game of Mad Libs gets a little old, feels disloyal.
Of course, some traditions really do have a point. Taking the same group picture every time the family gets together may seem redundant, but the point is that it's not exactly the same picture each time, and in a few years, it'll be fun to look back and watch younger relatives grow tall and older relatives grow gray. Camping outside SAS at seven a.m. certainly helps in getting those courses, besides being kind of fun if you have a positive attitude and a cup of hot chocolate. (A similar practice outside Barnes and Noble when each Harry Potter book comes out is just as necessary and-let's be honest-a lot more fun.)
Then, of course, there are Goucher's official traditions. Some of them may seem a little silly-when Spirit Week featured a Dance Around Yo' Hat Day, I felt no overwhelming need to participate, as I have no particular fondness for either dancing or hats. On Pajama Day, though, the opposite is the case. That tradition needs to live on! My favorite Goucher ritual, however (and I'm not biased at all, of course), is The Undecim, the April Fool's Day Edition of this very publication. It's definitely the most fun one can have in ::ahem:: journalism. This year's list of ideas is already a page and a half long.
Traditions are certainly a good thing when they're actually fun or useful. Hot chocolate in the winter is a good custom, and so are snowball fights. They're good if they give you something to look forward to, as in the case of my mother's twice-a-year chocolate cheesecake (and most food traditions, actually). I think, though, that the main reason we hold onto our customs for so long is the warmth-and-fuzziness ingredient, with its heavy remember-when content. Admit it - remembering when you weren't too old to bring home the first dandelion of the season feels pretty good.