°Û °Û ÞÜ ±Û °Û °Û ÜÛÛ ÛÜ ±Û ²Û°ÛÛÛÛß°Û ÜÜÜ ±Û ÜÜ ÜÛÛÛÜ°ÛßßßÛ°Û °Û ÛÛ ° ÛÛ±Û ±Û ÛÛ ±ÛÛßßßÛܱÛÛßß°ÛÜÜÜß °Û°ÛÛÛ ÛÛ ° ÛÛ±Û ±Û ÛÛ ±Û °Û±Û °ÛÜ °ÜÛßßÛ°Û °Û ßÛ ÛÛß °ÛÛÛ ßÛÛÜ°ÛßÛÛÛÛß±Û °ÛÛÛß°ÛÜÜÛ²°Û °Û Outbreak Magazine Issue #8 - Article 3 of 14 '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' The Evils of Tradition ---------------------- by: kleptic All around me I see people doing what people always have done, are doing, and will do. They are born, go to school, grow up, get a job, work, get old, and die. Most of those people will never do anything within their life span that has not already been done. That scares me. I believe each life is precious, and that everyone has something to offer the world that no other person could ever or will ever be able to duplicate. My life goal is to push my abilities far enough that I hopefully achieve whatever my unique potential contribution may be, preferably before I'm dead. The problem, as I see it, is that we live and die by tradition. As our forefathers have done, we shall do. Why are we doing that? It's tradition. If that's the only thing stopping us from creating our own approaches to a situation, I think we need to reevaluate our priorities. At some point, those traditions were created. The people who created them, who did them first, obviously did not consider what had been done before. They were creating something new. Do you think the authors of tradition really intended to limit the later generations creative thinking so severely with their creations? Unlikely. I find it far more feasible they would hope we could learn from their innovation, learn to create our own rituals and methods. I urge all of you to take a step away from the shackles of tradition. Nothing should be done solely for the sake of tradition. Ideally, we would just forget tradition and treat each new problem as a new entity, using our knowledge and creativity to invent our own solutions, but if tradition must be considered it would be far better to not do something a tradition dictates, or even intentionally doing the opposite. I try to do one thing a day that no one has likely ever done before. It seems a daunting task, but the effort is definitely not wasted. Nothing makes you feel special like being the first person in history to do something. I suppose I can share with you my own personal method for marking my place in history on a daily basis, even though it does slightly lower my chances of true innovation each day. I use the concept of 128 bit data encryption to invent new words. The basic idea is this: if you combine 128 random syllables into a combination, odds are with you no one will put the same combination together. Therefore, you most likely will end up with a word that no one else in history has ever said, or will ever say. Feels good, doesn't it? The only other step is to give the word some meaning, so it can be used in a sentence. I like to use unique and specific emotions, such as the following example: icharuyijbmartycraraquerdecaxroonxarmattyfattypart - noun - the feeling you get when Richard Simmons and B.B. King catch you sucking on your toes while wearing a Gucci suit and wielding a potato gun. I really doubt anyone has ever used that word, expressed that emotion, or even had the experience that would trigger that emotion. I have rendered the future a little more prepared; if Richard Simmons and B.B. King ever do catch someone sucking on their toes while wearing a Gucci suit and wielding a potato gun, they'll be able to say, "Whoa there, fellas. It's not what it looks like. Boy, do I feel icharuyijbmartycraraquerdecaxroonxarmattyfattypart." By the way, there's not 128 syllables in my example word, but you get the idea. Anyway, I hope some of you find it important to leave your permanent mark on this little tribe called humanity, without letting it leave it's mark on you too deeply. We're all born unique, but we grow into mediocrity. Be weird, be crazy. This world would be a lot more fun with a bunch of free thinkers running around, wouldn't it?