Last year, a local Town here in upstate New York started sponsoring a 5K Turkey Trot. It was held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Needless to say, the turnout for the run was great. Many of the participants were thrilled to have this new community activity after overeating on Thanksgiving Day.

Another Turkey Trot is scheduled for this year. For those who don’t run or jog, the Town mapped out one mile for a Stroll.

Community members see this event as a replacement of the Village Days that, after decades, finally went defunct. I wonder, how does an event start out so good only to become such a burden?

Rituals, routines, and traditions can bring about goodness, however, change happens and if the traditions don’t adapt to the changes appropriately, more harm is done than good. Competition, misunderstandings, and ridiculous expectations can ruin the goodness. When the harm outweighs the benefits, we can fearlessly let go of the tradition and move forward with a new tradition.

From 21^st Century Science and Health, “Humanity must learn that the influences of propaganda or crowd thinking are powerless. Crowd thinking is oppressive, but only a phase of nothingness. Christian Science devastates the vacuum of evil thinking and preeminently promotes good-will and virtue in families and therefore in the community.”