浮生琐记

I oppose the speaker’s assertion that tradition and modernization are incompatible and people must choose between them, since tradition and modernization are not mutually exclusive choices, thus we can benefit a great deal through combining them to enhance our ken and promote our living condition.

Before arguments against the assertion are displayed, it is necessary for us to give either of the two notions a proper definition. When we refer to the word “tradition”, we mean mainly beliefs, values, customs, ethics, morality, etc., that are handed down from generation to generation in a society and have gone through an enduring test from people and the whole society. Therefore, tradition tends to keep almost unchanged and be accepted well by fast all members of the society. Distinguished from tradition, modernization refers to a process of urbanization, industrialization and democratization and in general, a kind of movement and a relatively fluctuated process. In other words, since modernization and tradition are concentrated on different aspects, they can co-exist; and when we are confronted with the two choices, we can also combine them instead of choosing one between them at expense of the other.

Moreover, we can never cast away the tradition, because it has great influence on us people and can benefit the society. Above all, tradition brings innumerable brilliant cultures to people in the contemporary society, and thus no one could ignore its value. Besides, traditional insight provides the historic version to render us the previous experience of our precursors that is regarded as traditional wisdom. This kind of wisdom can not only inspire us to search for solutions to present problems, but also enable us to avoid making repeated mistakes, especially those detrimental not only to individuals but also to the society as a whole, or they ultimately impede the development of modernization. Last but not least, tradition to some extent representing people’s penchants will precipitate the procedure of modernization. Therefore, great effort should be made to preserve and develop the essence of tradition.

In final analysis, tradition and modernization can be reciprocal in that they both are rooted in the needs of human life and are means which meet such need, therefore, the correct way to modernize a culture is to transform or reform its tradition; when human beings pursue the maximum at modernization, considering the tradition, we will benefit much. The example of medicine will aptly illustrate how tradition and modernization reciprocate each other. When we find some traditional medicine contain some poisonous elements, we use modern technology to extract them from the herb in order to reduce the side effect. Modern medicine can also be inspired by traditional medicine. There are examples of drugs originally derived from natural resources: Digoxin obtained from glovefox was for a long time the drug used for treating heart failure. Aside from medicine, we can also find evidence in the internet. Many times we saw people using internet to sell traditional products. In fact, people not only use modern technology to sell traditional products, but also produce them– a lot of the traditional clothes, accessories are produced in modern assembly line.

In conclusion, modernization and tradition are not exclusive choices as the speaker claims; they can not only co-exist, but also be reciprocal, because tradition is of great importance to us and modernization meets the contemporary needs of people. If we can transform or reform our tradition and pursue the maximum at modernization, we will benefit much.