Just Stop and Think

"The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born" (Bohner and Grant 563).

As the tradition, horrific for most of the readers, in "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is kept over time, we have a lot of traditions-cultural, communal, and family traditions-being kept. A lot of the time, the whole purpose is lost and/or ambiguous. I believe we could be caught doing things that has no definite purpose: we would do something "because that's how it's done." We would say "bless you" to the person that sneezes because that's how it's done, that's part of American culture. However, are traditions always good? Are all of them worthy to be kept? For an example, in this area of the United States, there is a night called "Mischief Night" or "Cabbage Night" which is the day before Halloween. The custom is for preteens and teenagers to play pranks and mischiefs on their neighbors, which are usually toilet-papering and/or spraying shaving cream, around this area. The minor vandalism are dismissed for this night-possibly because teenagers needs some kind of output to pour out their stress. However, if one just stops for a moment and thinks, I think he/she would be able to see different things about this. For an example, I personally think this is a ridiculous and very disrespectful thing to do. The person of the house that was vandalized, has to spend a part of his/her day to clean it up, because the prankster doesn't. It doesn't teach the teenagers that they should clean up after themselves. Also, it is disrespectful to their neighbors. Even if it does no harm, it is still not nice, and people, if not conditioned in this kind of environment, may take this personally, even if that was not intended for. I don't believe that this is only disrespectful to the victims, but also to the people who can't afford shaving creams and/or toilet papers. I have heard about people stealing toilet papers from bathrooms of retail stores to use money on other necessities. It is disrespectful to the people who made it or provided the ingredients. Nevertheless, I may not have felt this way if I didn't come from California where I never have seen or heard about such thing. This is one thing that makes diversity so important. It brings in different views. The setting for "The Lottery," I believe, consists of a non-diverse, similar people, which was why no one had thought that there was something wrong with the stoning. We educate ourselves, including about diversity, to learn to think because if we just stop and think-analyze-what we are doing or intending to do, we would come up with some different perspectives or ideas-something we would never have thought of is we didn't just stop and think.