7/25/2019 10. Traditional Values

1/1

People nowadays work hard to buy more things. This has generally made ourlives more comfortable, but many traditional values and customs have been

lost and this s a pity.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Essay

In pursuit of material comforts, modern man strives to achieve better

financial status. This may be, sometimes at the cost of ignoringtraditional value systems and customs. However, I believe, although a

minority falls into this category, the major portion of the society stillupholds traditional values in the midst of material prosperity.

It is sometimes said that respect for elderly parents, which was atraditional value does not find any place in todays families. This is purely a

based on the wrong assumption that old parents should be allowed tointerfere into the affairs of their children and make decisions for them. In

fact, todays parents respect the freedom of their children and in turn,

children are more independent and stand on their feet earlier than before.Todays children maintain a friendly relationship with their parents but that

does not mean that they do not respect them. Today, respect for parents isborne out of childrens freedom and not a result of fear, which in many

instances used to be the case in the past. Such attitude of todays

generation is sometimes misinterpreted as lack of respect for theirparents. What one can derive from this example is that traditional

values remain unchanged, although their epressions may take different

forms in the passage of time.

!isiting neighbourhood houses used to be a favourite custom for people inthe past, which helped them in fostering friendly relationship with ones

neighbours. However, this is not possible today, since people are too busy asthey work for long hours outside their homes to meet the ever"increasing

demands of modern life. But this has been effectively compensated

by the formation of neighbourhood clubs and similar groups where peoplemeet during weekends and engage in many entertainment and social

activities. This provides them greater opportunities to develop a friendlyrelationship with their neighbours.

#ans $uest for material prosperity does not always lead to the loss oftraditional values, which can be clearly proved by our own experiences

to that effect. %lthough the circumstances change, man remains the sameold ethical being.