A certain Scot told me that she thinks I do not impart enough feeling in my writing. In the same vain, another friend commented that my posts come across as slightly unemotional.
Having thought about it, they are right. The truth is, I find it much harder to write, especially to write amusingly, about things I feel strongly about - perhaps because I'm sanctimonious re the things that really matter to me (my brother's feedback) or because I think that to mask strong feelings with levity is often a defense mechanism, so I tend to avoid it. A final reason is that I think my thoughts are more original than my feelings - so I assume people would be more interested in reading about the former than the latter (modest as always).
But in the name of science, let me try an experiment and see if I can change my cold, dispassionate and detached style and write about something I really care about: tradition. I confess I'm a bit stuck here - I've written all the other posts without any editing or planning, but in this case I'm not really sure where to begin - so bear with me.
Jessi and I flew to Athens on Friday to celebrate Easter. I have never in my life missed this celebration (I remember once I even had a team project at university, but left my team to fly back to Greece to spend Easter with my family (with the expected result - our team had the lowest score in the department)), so I didn't think that "being at the other side of the world" was a good reason to do so this year.
There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, my family is spread across the world - from China to the US to Argentina (if we include my honourary sister). Easter, not Christmas, is the time a lot of them come to Greece, so Easter doubles as a family reunion. In addition, on Easter Sunday we host many old family friends for lunch - and it is very nice seeing all of them.
Secondly, I really enjoy the activities Easter necessitates. We pretty much run an open house over Easter weekend, with cousins, uncles, grandparents and friends coming and going almost constantly, which is a very nice way to do things I find. Working with people to prepare food is very fun. And church services are particularly nice (as is the religious music).
However, these are not reasons to like traditions - they are reasons to like Easter the way we celebrate it in particular in my family. The reason I never miss Easter is not just that I like the things we do, it's that I feel I must maintain tradition for its own sake. And this is the feeling that is harder to convey, but I will try anyway.
It is easy enough to argue, and I'm sure I could find academic literature backing me up here, that tradition fosters stability which in turn imparts a sense of security and comfort. But that's not all. I think in my case, the need for tradition boils down to what I perceive to be the meaning of life (another reason I don't write about my feelings: I come across as incredibly pompous). I see the meaning of life as being genuinely happy (rather than just distracted by frivolous entertainment) and, equally importantly, leaving a legacy. And for me, leaving a legacy means leaving a family that lives by the same values and principles as you. And the best way to ensure that your descendants will have the same values and principles is, I think, through tradition.
So in my case, besides the enjoyment I get from Easter activities themselves, I feel something very grand (both in the Irish and the normal sense of the word) when I go for Easter services at the same church as my parents, grandparents and great grandparents; when my whole family meets for the Ανάσταση at the same steps at Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος; when I prepare food with my cousins in the same way my ancestors did, and knowing my children and grand children will be doing the same; when I visit my ancestors' graves at the cemetery. All of these things form part of a very special narrative, special to my family, and to my identity, to an extent where I'm having difficulty expressing its importance in words.
This explains why I do not miss Easter. It's not just the fun I will have. It's a desire for preserving something more important than myself, something that I hope to gift to my children and nephews and grand children. It's why I'm very proud when I see my youngest cousins or newest additions to the family helping out (note: my own wife helped out the first three years she was here - since then she's been on camera duty) - because I feel that by working together we are dong more than sharing an activity, we are sharing a history.
Having thought about it, they are right. The truth is, I find it much harder to write, especially to write amusingly, about things I feel strongly about - perhaps because I'm sanctimonious re the things that really matter to me (my brother's feedback) or because I think that to mask strong feelings with levity is often a defense mechanism, so I tend to avoid it. A final reason is that I think my thoughts are more original than my feelings - so I assume people would be more interested in reading about the former than the latter (modest as always).
But in the name of science, let me try an experiment and see if I can change my cold, dispassionate and detached style and write about something I really care about: tradition. I confess I'm a bit stuck here - I've written all the other posts without any editing or planning, but in this case I'm not really sure where to begin - so bear with me.
Jessi and I flew to Athens on Friday to celebrate Easter. I have never in my life missed this celebration (I remember once I even had a team project at university, but left my team to fly back to Greece to spend Easter with my family (with the expected result - our team had the lowest score in the department)), so I didn't think that "being at the other side of the world" was a good reason to do so this year.
There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, my family is spread across the world - from China to the US to Argentina (if we include my honourary sister). Easter, not Christmas, is the time a lot of them come to Greece, so Easter doubles as a family reunion. In addition, on Easter Sunday we host many old family friends for lunch - and it is very nice seeing all of them.
Secondly, I really enjoy the activities Easter necessitates. We pretty much run an open house over Easter weekend, with cousins, uncles, grandparents and friends coming and going almost constantly, which is a very nice way to do things I find. Working with people to prepare food is very fun. And church services are particularly nice (as is the religious music).
However, these are not reasons to like traditions - they are reasons to like Easter the way we celebrate it in particular in my family. The reason I never miss Easter is not just that I like the things we do, it's that I feel I must maintain tradition for its own sake. And this is the feeling that is harder to convey, but I will try anyway.
It is easy enough to argue, and I'm sure I could find academic literature backing me up here, that tradition fosters stability which in turn imparts a sense of security and comfort. But that's not all. I think in my case, the need for tradition boils down to what I perceive to be the meaning of life (another reason I don't write about my feelings: I come across as incredibly pompous). I see the meaning of life as being genuinely happy (rather than just distracted by frivolous entertainment) and, equally importantly, leaving a legacy. And for me, leaving a legacy means leaving a family that lives by the same values and principles as you. And the best way to ensure that your descendants will have the same values and principles is, I think, through tradition.
So in my case, besides the enjoyment I get from Easter activities themselves, I feel something very grand (both in the Irish and the normal sense of the word) when I go for Easter services at the same church as my parents, grandparents and great grandparents; when my whole family meets for the Ανάσταση at the same steps at Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος; when I prepare food with my cousins in the same way my ancestors did, and knowing my children and grand children will be doing the same; when I visit my ancestors' graves at the cemetery. All of these things form part of a very special narrative, special to my family, and to my identity, to an extent where I'm having difficulty expressing its importance in words.
This explains why I do not miss Easter. It's not just the fun I will have. It's a desire for preserving something more important than myself, something that I hope to gift to my children and nephews and grand children. It's why I'm very proud when I see my youngest cousins or newest additions to the family helping out (note: my own wife helped out the first three years she was here - since then she's been on camera duty) - because I feel that by working together we are dong more than sharing an activity, we are sharing a history.
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