I quote, “ Tradition is an explanation for acting without thinking.
” I unquote. Influence of traditions has been very strong not only in the sub-continent but worldwide. Some customs like the dowry system is the cancer of the society. It is so inbred that even the educated elite of our country accept it as a way of life, thus hindering the progress of and ruining many families. Similarly, in the west, the tradition of shifting parents into ‘ old homage’ is because the youth there feel, they are a hindrance to their progress.
We keep our girls illiterate, uneducated, and ignorant because our culture does not allow us to educate them from following their careers, their goals all in the name of traditions. We have excuses and blames of all kinds when it comes to braking or stopping a certain tradition. In India after the abolition of ‘ sattee’ during the British Rule, even today people there believe it to be a noble act if a woman agrees to be a ‘ sattee’. When an illogical tradition is followed blindly without reasoning rationality; it definitely promotes evil in the society.
It narrows the outlook of the people who believe in it promoting it so vehemently that if someone tries to break its clutches, he is shunned by one and all. Certain traditions like honour killing, marriage of girls to the Holy Quran or old men without the consent of the girls and Watta Satta are a curse and all very evident examples which have stopped us from progressing to the 21st century. Finally I quote: “ Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. ”
