Tradition

For this week's topic Ramana picked Tradition. Be sure to check out his take at Ramana's Musings.
 Merriam Webster (online) says "

1a : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom)

b : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable … the bulk of traditions attributed to the Prophet …— J. L. Esposito

2 : the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction

3 : cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions

4 : characteristic manner, method, or style in the best liberal tradition  A culture's traditions, customs and institutions combine to define cultural continuity for that society. For example, we traditionally for years the US established a 5 day work week with weekends off. Union organizers fought hard to establish that tradition. Recently that tradition has come under attack as businesses claim they cannot be competitive in the world market with that restriction.  Traditionally, health insurance in the USA is offered to a large percentage of American workers through their place of employment, with the remainder acquiring insurance directly through health insurance providers. That led to the  creation of  the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare - a seriously flawed attempt to provide healthcare to the balance of Americans. To date (per Google) 44 million Americans remain uninsured while 33 million have inadequate health insurance. It appears our tradition of a deeply flawed health insurance  system is unchanged. Some traditions become laws - such as we drive on the right side of the street, Other traditions are created by the repetitive nature of the activity that becomes a de facto tradition. Think Black Friday sales. In the same vein, most Baby Boomers can remember a time when many if not most businesses were closed on Sunday. Sundays were days for families and spiritual fulfillment. That tradition has also given way to businesses remaining open 7 days per week. Profit margins demanded the change, according to business owners. Then there was the tradition of marriage. The traditional marriage was one male and one female. Now we have same sex marriages in many places meant to include homosexuals in the same benefit pool as heterosexual couples. This means they are protecting the rights of same-sex couples, Each state will determine their own rules regarding same-sex marriage so the tradition will vary by state. Many families have established their own traditions. My family does not happen to be one but traditions can be as simple as having someone read Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. In fact, holidays are a common time for families to establish traditions.  Many families attend midnight services on Christmas Eve, I know families that name their children with names all  beginning with the same letter - I once worked for a fellow named Roger who was married to Rita and  their boys were named Raymond and Russell. Traditions add shape and shade to our culture and our families and ourselves. Of course not all traditions are positive. Negative traditions are lurking everywhere and with a bit of effort they can be changed or eliminated. Children seem to have taken the bullying tradition to far and it needs to be addressed. And there is the new tradition of not holding children responsible for themselves and their efforts. Life is a collection of wins and losses. Kids must be taught how to accept the losses along with the wins - just participating is not enough. Goals and the effort required to achieve those goals must be explained. Progress  and advancement must be earned. Those are the traditionsthat will matter most. This is the last 2-on-1 blog before Christmas so to all of my readers that celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas - to my Jewish friends Happy Hanukkah and to the others Happy Holidays.