Rowan Welch - When Tradition; When Not Tradition

Children are vulnerable creatures.
They laugh, they learn, they cry.
But what makes me cry,
Is when they are taken advantage of.
See, children can't always tell the difference
Between a story and a tradition.
They don't require 'molding'.
They need not be persuaded.
Is it really ethical,
When you have a child,
To force your traditions unto them?
Is it really helpful,
For you to make their life decisions for them,
Rather than allow them to come to their own?
without the ability to be aware of other cultures,
They fall lost without second thought,
To the only one they know exists.
Is it really care that drives you,
To encourage closed-minded thinking?
You are not enabling them towards life,
But towards ignorance.
Tradition is important yes,
But it cannot be forced,
Else those who know no better,
are condemned to live life in a daydream.

Rowan Welch

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-tradition-when-not-tradition/