The Danger of Complacency: Often Justified in the Name of Tradition

 (Most of the following examples are things that I have personally experienced. I am only sharing my perspective and opinion, and will not be offended if anyone chooses to leave the page at anytime) 

complacency

com·​pla·​cen·​cy | \ kəm-ˈplā-sᵊn(t)-sē

Essential Meaning of complacency

: a feeling of being satisfied with how things are and not wanting to try to make them better : a complacent feeling or condition 

The public was lulled into complacency. The stock market crash rattled/shattered/shook our complacency. [=took away our feeling that everything was fine]

Full Definition of complacency

1 : self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies When it comes to safety, complacency can be dangerous.

2 : an instance of usually unaware or uninformed self-satisfaction

 

 

Why can complacency be so dangerous? 

     - oh boy, oh boy!!!! Here we go! Give me a moment to grab my soapbox and jump upon it!! 

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Imagine with me, if you will, a young teenager questioning the integrity of something their family or a group of people practice.  So being inquisitive and wanting to learn, they ask, “so why do we do this?”  Nothing is more confusing and concerning then when someone they respect replies, “I don’t really know. It’s what we’ve always done.”

“Then if we don’t know why we do it, why do we continue?”

“It’s tradition”

“Why bother changing it?”

“...no one really objected before!”

“ because it’s the way we’ve always done it and it always worked in the past”

Hmmmm,  do I note a hint of defensiveness in the last statement?

 I personally do not appreciate when someone does not have a decent reason for doing something, especially if they use that type of defensiveness about it.

Hmm, you might think “it seems as though I might’ve made that individual slightly uncomfortable with that.....”

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So why do you do the things that you do?

Do you have a decent reason for them, or do you get defensive when  someone question something that maybe you shouldn’t feel ok with it?

Becoming complacent is very dangerous. If we get too comfortable in our every day humdrum lives, it’s easy to start doing things for the wrong reasons. 

Or on the other extreme, stop doing certain practices altogether. 

People don’t like change. We like to live life in our little molds, having a decent amount of control on our day-to-day activities. So, far too often, when questions are raised about certain things that we don’t have a good reason for, we are given the justification of ‘tradition’.

When questions are raised about certain things that we don’t have a good reason for, we are given the justification of ‘tradition’.

And while tradition can be good, maybe we need to go back and study the root of that particular practice or tradition. 

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Anyway. That’s the end of my ramblings for today. Have a great weekend and enjoy the snow!!