The elder is a living repository of the continuing tradition of his people, a thing greater than himself, that he acts within. He does not discard it, and then try to pass off his own fabricated tradition as the real thing. Rather, he adds to it, slowly, carefully, and preserves the memory of what was given to him, and what it is he added, so that future generations can decide for themselves, if his addition was a worthy one. It is not for him, to decide what should or should not be remembered, for the tradition, in its entirety, is more than any one person can understand, or could ever create.

The elder leads, but he does not rule. His advice is not thrust upon the unwilling young adult "for his own good", either directly or through subterfuge, for to do so, would be to ignore the young man's coming of age, and the rights that come with this passage, among the most fundamental and revered of traditions. The elder who defies custom, on so basic a level, ceases to be an elder, and merely becomes a crazy old man, to be shunned when he isn't pitied.

His advice is rarely given, but rather is sought by those who have been given reason to value it, by having witnessed its worth in the past. Nor is it given eagerly, or always directly. Often, the younger man, seeking easy advice, is driven to distraction as the elder presents him with a series of questions in return. But he understands from past experience that he is being lead to the truth, and more importantly, he is being taught how to find the truth on his own. Some day, he will be the elder, and if today's elder is to leave a tradition behind, there must be someone to take his place.

Shall the elder seek a student, or one to advise, who never questions him? He might as well train a rock to succeed him. At least the rock would be able to stand firm on something. One who craves unearned approval more than the truth shall be even weaker and more easily swayed, when he grows weak with age, than he was in his youth, when he had so much less to fear. He will have no more understanding that that rock, because real understanding is hard earned, gained from the examination and dissection of the arguments that lead up to it, and does not take on life, until one gains the ability to craft arguments of one's own.

Nor, having never practiced the habit of spontaneously acting on his tradition, will he find himself in actual posession of such a habit. On these terms, the tradition becomes a sham, its mores crumbling away the moment that authority looks the other way. The elder will have thus killed that, which the preservation of, served as the entire rationale for his status in the first place.

The elder, or teacher, who would presume to deprive his student of his right - no, of his duty - to stand on his own two feet, to make his own decisions as he lives life on his own terms, and thinks his own thoughts - would make an infant out of a man, and thus fail in his job. He is no elder at all, but a decrepit child, throwing his last tantrum, in a world that will have little reason to mourn his passing.

Does that answer your question? Let us move on.