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"For all your talk of freeing yourself from the arbitrary
constraints of tradition, aren't you holding onto them for
yourself, my textile addicted friend?"
Oh, I wouldn't begin to try to pretend that I'm completely free
from those constraints and I don't think that it would be healthy
to try to do so. The reality is, that one's upbringing remains part
of one. A truly total break with that, even if it could be
successful (and not just an expression of denial) would leave one
disconnected from one's formative years. One doesn't break the
bonds of custom, but rather gently and patiently loosens them.
On a gut level, I'm afraid that if I cast traditional decorum
aside too lightly, I'm not going to get taken seriously. This is no
dark confession, it is what we are taught to feel in our society.
Now, that's really stupid and I admit that it's really stupid,
but it's in there anyway for a lot of us. If you're free of this
kind of inhibition, good for you and we're not going to hold you
back. But the rest of us have to get there in our own time.
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