Isn’t it strange? The things we do? They don’t make sense, really. We put a tree in our house, as if it were a small, hand-picked daisy. We decorate it with lights and glass bulbs. Then, we hang our socks over the fireplace. To anyone unaccustomed to this culture, Christmas would sound insane. So, why do we do it? If our parents didn’t teach us about Santa, Rudolph, or the North Pole, would our generation celebrate Christmas the same way? Certainly, these traditions would disappear, no longer able to continue through generations.

Imagine if we lived in a different culture. In this culture, parents do not raise their children. Imagine the difference. Traditions and memories would not be passed down. Kids wouldn’t be able to learn from their parent’s mistakes, and, more than likely, would commit similar blunders. How would generations improve? How would humans improve? If parents could no longer share memoirs with their kids, how could we expect kids to inherit lessons of experience?

It’s similar to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The most valuable of traits are passed down, and the species improves over time. By telling stories and teaching lessons, parental generations can improve the future generation. If, for example, my parents never told me of how they failed to smuggle boxed wine into a Bon Jovi concert, then I could easily have tried similar stunts. Other lessons, of course, can be more sentimental, like handling the death of the family hamster.

The most important lessons, however, come with parenthood. New parents raise their kids with their childhood in mind. Some may want to loosen the chains, while others want more. They think of how they could’ve improved their childhood, and try to raise their kids this way. Certainly, after several generations, there should be significant improvement. We have seen this already. A few generations ago, parents would raise children with physical force. Now, this is socially unaccepted. We imprison abusive parents. Perhaps our raising methods will be later rejected and replaced.

However, this social evolution is in jeopardy. Parents and children are not communicating effectively. Family relationships are waning with the development of new technology, social customs, and busy schedules. It has become socially accepted to nearly ignore each other, and spend more time apart. Parents need to talk with their children, tell stories. Otherwise, the kids cannot learn from the parent’s experience, and social evolution comes to a halt. Simple conversations, minute-long memoirs, go a long way.

To continue improving our future generations, we must increase the level of communication in the common household. Instead of watching TV at dinner, we should share stories. We need to learn from each other. If not, tradition, improvement, and development can no longer continue. Life will become an endless cycle, with no purpose. Humans strive for improvement. It gives us a reason worth living. Without it, there is no point.