Originally Posted by
Yvaelle
Hadn't been on the forums this evening and heading to bed now, but I will respond in greater depth tomorrow.
I empathize with the idea of communities (Anatevka) crushed under the ever-marching heel of progress, I hope that we can preserve some memory of them in the historical records - but in my view progress is inexorable. Anatevka was destined to become dust long before it was ever built - at best we can, through tradition, preserve a strictly defined culture for a matter of a few generations - but isolation is essential even here - and all things are impermanent: except change.
Progress is the idea that, by embracing the impermanence of all things, we can instead focus on guiding change toward positive outcomes, rather than - through tradition - bracing against change - and failing to hold off the river of time's torrent.
Regarding the Welsh language and culture, which I'm sure is what personalizes the struggle for you - I think you are doing the right thing - passing it on as best you can. Yet in time it will be - at best - assimilated into the zeitgeist of culture - or at worst lost entirely to the endless ebb of time.
Perhaps that's the greatest ideological difference between you and I - I embrace my own impermanence, I wish to become a part of the river itself. You wish to climb out of it, and build something to outlast the endless currents? Tradition vs. Change. Valuing what makes now special, and lamenting what has already been lost - versus sacrificing what we have, in the hopes of something better yet to come.