When should tradition be upheld, done away with, or modified?

      Traditions are important precedents set by your family or culture that you act upon and keep from generations to generations.  However there are some times in your life where the old traditions become obsolete and you will have to decide when to uphold, get rid of or change them.
      When an individual wishes to create their own traditions with his or her family, or when changing times calls for modifications to old ways, that may be a time to ditch the old traditions and create new precedents to be upheld by your family and culture.
      On the other hand, you may not wish to change the ways of your youth or even your heritage and traditions set out by ancestors.  Like if you are immersed in a new culture by entering into a new country, you may wish to keep some of your old traditions from where you came from.  But you might have to modify certain traditions to better fit in to the society if you're coming from a different culture. 
      In a recent film we watched in class, Whale Rider, there is a modern day battle of tradition between the chief of a tribe in New Zealand, Koro, and his descendants, the society and himself. His son Porurangi, grew up and left the tribe to start a new life in the modern world.  But Koro was set in his ways and kept with the tradition of the tribe and his ancestors.  Poruragi and his wife were going to have twin babies, and Koro wanted them to have a boy that could lead the tribe after him.  A boy and a girl were born, however, at birth the boy and its mother died; leaving the girl named Paikea to the grandfather to be raised. The tradition called for a boy to lead the tribe, so Koro was disappointed that he didn't get a male to take over after him. 
     As the story goes on, Koro begins to realize that times are changing, Paikea is showing true leadership potential and at the end of the story she becomes the new leader of the tribe. Koro had to let go of the old traditions set by ancestors and accept that modern times would call for modifications to old traditions. 
    Traditions are a good thing to keep on some occasions, and also good to modify them with the changing times and create new ones that you could make your own.

What is Literature? is it important? why? or why not?

Literature according to www.merriam-webster.com by definition is written works (such as poems, plays, and novels) that are considered to be very good and to have lasting importance. I feel that literature is much more than words put together to make a good story.  Literature is in many cases artistic.  It expresses the author's feelings and ideas, usually in writing, but also in music and art as well.

Literature is important, through their works, authors can teach valuable lessons and explain real world issues.  Some literary works may be simple, but their messages can be complex. My favorite example is Ernest Hemmingway's novella, The Old Man and The Sea, because it is a really simple book to read, but it teaches valuable life lessons about perseverance and self worth. With literary works you can't just read the words, you have to "read between the lines" and understand the underlying meaning of the authors theme.  By just reading The Old Man and the Sea someone might think that it is a simple story of an old man going out to sea and fishing for a very long time and coming back.  But if you read into it more, you could see the real life lessons being explained by the old man's determination, the problems he faces, and the attitude of the man as the trouble arrives.

Literary works can be in a form of a narrative or story; more for entertainment. Or they can be didactic; being written for the sake of learning, and teaching life lessons.  But whatever the case I say look more into the story and try to think of which type of literary work the author was implying. Was it for a story? Or was it for learning a lesson?