Culture and Tradition and Our Changing Lives

Culture is our way of life. Our way of life evolves with technology, our changing needs, regional and global influences, economic development, and our interests. While we see everything around us changing, we crave the nostalgic feelings we had when we were young. We want to see traditions kept alive even though we only want to 'see' but not actively participate in them. We say, "Someone must keep it alive!" We love our modern conveniences, yet we want to 'see' the old-time ways.

Governments invest in culture and preserving tradition because it is important to record history so that future generations can appreciate the journey that the forefathers took. Fifty years ago was a different time. The population had different needs. The people did not have access to the media when compared to the availability today. The population make-up was different; we would not have made the strides we enjoy today without the population shifts.

We need to look at our culture and improve the way that we live with each other. Our culture includes our beliefs, customs, and behaviors. We cannot lose our identity, but we need to appreciate that times have changed. We have to invest in worthwhile ventures that preserve our identity and offer quality entertainment. We have to look past investing in activities that drain the public purse because we want tradition. Enable the mechanisms to allow sustainability with regulation so that we can balance the costs and output.

Also, we have to look at the changing needs of the people and their interests. If you put on events and activities and no one attends, then you have missed the mark. Enhance the promotion, involve other segments of the population, especially the youth, and record the events for future showing.

As we look at culture, we cannot forget the young people because they are the ones to carry forward the traditions. However, we must remember that they have a budding culture too among their peers. Therefore, we have to hear their voices, view their art, and read their stories as they add to the culture as well. I am sure that the elders scolded the Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers about their clothing and their music. It is no different today because parents today compare music and styles. We, the parents of today, lived through the criticism and changed aspects of the culture as we also were influenced by the factors shared earlier.

Culture is what we do, how we behave, and why we behave the way that we do. We cannot ignore the influences that have shifted our way of life, and we cannot forget our history. We must record our stories so that future generations can appreciate the ongoing journey.

A few things that we can do are:

1. put more local books in the education curriculum
2. give the young people the forum to express themselves in their genre
3. assist industries through investment and promotion
4. offer incentives to culture bearers
5. re-establish museums and offer virtual viewings of aspects of culture
6. gather ideas from the population on what they see as the culture and how we can preserve it
7. recognize when it is time to let go

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