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A tradition cannot truly recognize and affirm the timeless just as DNA thrown on the ground does not become a plant or an animal. A tradition is the code but only runs successfully in certain contexts.

A tradition can change and morph to fit the new contexts but only if the rate of change is slower than its ability to self repair. An animal can eat a new type of animal but can’t suddenly digest grass or photosynthesize.

As new experiences reveal themselves as different colored sugar pieces stuck together for instagramming we eventually retreat to more timeless values.

In times past we would shackle ourselves to such tradition and train constantly for the strength to carry these traditions forward. The son carrying on the dreams (and sins) of the father.

Nowadays we see this as a burden akin to slavery. We want to be free. We feel stuck between a comfortable prison and the endless freedom of a bottomless pit.

The failure to impart an aspect of tradition leads to suicide just as leaving someone naked and alone in a jungle leads to physical death.

Suicide is devastating because it is the clearest signal that something went wrong in the family. Often the parents weren’t strong enough themselves to wade into the dark places the child got lost in or were enticed into.

Each suicide is an earthquake for a family. Chains of suicides create the cracks and fractures that eventually destroy a tradition.