Because That's the Way IT'S ALWAYS BEEN!

YOU Canary will change your ways and learn
to suck the corporate tit. YOU Canary will
stop asking so many annoying QUESTIONS!

WHY, WHY, WHY???

One thing I've noticed about we humans is that we are so resistant to change. We have no problem doing something that's completely dumb or boring simply because WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT! And if you do something more than twice, then it becomes a TRADITION!

Take professional baseball, for instance. For 95 percent of the game you have a picture, a catcher, and a batter engaged in some kind of duel while seven other guys stand in a field adjusting themselves. Maybe it's time for someone to stand up in the bleachers and scream, "This is really, really boring!" I mean, come on, the strikes, steroids, illegal drugs and scandals are MUCH more exciting than the actual game. But we go anyway and buy an $8 hotdog and a $4 bag of peanuts because our granddad took us to the ballpark when we were kids, and it gives us a warm, comfy feeling inside.

And then there is the tradition of gift giving at Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries. You have to use your VISA card to buy some relative a dumb gift that will end up stuffed in a closet along with all their other junk. Or you have to buy a Barbie doll for your niece knowing full well her parents make twice the income that you do. "But, oh, it's the thought that counts."

When I try to buck some of the crazy traditions in our society, I get criticized and called a scrooge or wierdo or whatever. That's because everyone is programmed to keep everyone else in some degree of conformity. You HAVE to wear a suit to church, you HAVE to buy your kids a new outfit for Easter (instead of giving that money to the poor), you HAVE to see your relatives on every holiday, no matter how much they annoy you. You HAVE to have a salad with your meal, you HAVE to put your napkin in your nap (it's good manners, you animal!). You HAVE to go to church four times a week, you HAVE to wear a white wedding dress, you HAVE to wear a cowboy hat, you HAVE to spit in a cup and not on the ground ....

Okay, anyway, the point here is "JUST BECAUSE WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT THAT WAY" doesn't mean it's the best way, right way, or even makes sense. We need to step back and question our "traditions" and decide which ones are really helpful and fruitful, and which ones are nonproductive and even harmful.

And most importantly, DON'T DO THINGS because peer pressure or "tradition" tells you to — rather do things because they are the right thing to do. How can we as a people justify wasteful, needless gift exchanging when there are millions of people who don't even get enough to eat? Have we forgotten about them? The fact is, we can never have true joy until their bellies have warm food in them, for as a humanity we all are one, and when one of us hurts, we all hurt.

Let's cut out the expensive and wasteful traditions and focus on the things that are really meaningful in life. Okay, as for baseball, if you like it, then GO to those games, but if you don't really want to go and waste all that money, then DON'T. Let someone else eat that $8 hotdog.

"But Canary, that $8 is for an entire platter that includes fries and a Coca-Cola. It's a good deal. Canary, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"