Time Moves On

Had dinner with Stef today, and the topic of tradition just popped up.

In short, we were lamenting on how as time progresses, parents rarely seem to be affected by the winds of change. Often we hear the ever so common "In my time...(goes on and on about how things were better and more civil in their time and how society is only changing for the worse)", isn't it so?

Tradition seeks to preserve values, morals, etiquette, while time seeks to change that. Asian culture and modernity seem to be in a constant fight for the lives of the young today. Unlike the generation of our parents, where filial piety and other Chinese values were prominent, youths today are more in touch with Western culture, where you leave home at 18 to find a job and rarely see your parents again.

Take dialect for instance. Someone told me that our parents would be the last generation to speak it fluently, or even at all, and I must admit I agree. The generations gap between parent and child is not only a gap of age, but also a gap of culture. Media and Western influence have been prominent throughout our upbringing, while the only forms of tradition that remain lie at home, decaying.

Perhaps tradition has met its end in this generation. Yet a deeper thought lingers - 50 years from now, with the powers of the East emerging, will our children have the mindset that our present 'Western lifestyles' are tradition, and go back to the 'ancient' beliefs of our parents and their parents?

Ultimately, tradition is not anything ancient, but merely a mindset; a perspective. And the battle, once again, is won by time - it conquers all, leaving even civilisations crumbling in its wake.

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Author's note: Terribly sub-par entry. I'm too distracted by the 'Movie Event of the Year' on AXN. Heh.