Tradition is lame.

Some say that tradition is the only thing that connects the last generation to this one. Some say that America wouldn't be America without a heavy emphasis on tradition. There are even those who say tradition will be this country's saving grace.

Let's have a history lesson.

Tradition is what kept black people as property for hundreds of years. Tradition is why women were second-class citizens until 1920. Tradition is the reason I'm writing this "Editor's Farewell," one more sentimental retrospective about the highs and lows of being in, and graduating from, high school.

I find it dangerous - using the argument "Because that's how it's always been - to justify anything that seems different or harmful. We live in a progressive society, and inevitably the laws have to change accordingly (this is why we have the right and obligation to amend the Constitution, people). Change, in any form, is considered a radical idea in America, and that ideology can be detrimental to any civilization's progress.

Of course, change can be bad (take "Saved by the Bell: The New Class"), but it is always necessary for growth.

As these words begin to fill a blank computer screen, I'm in the home stretch - just three more days of high school, and by the time this goes to print, I'll be done. My life is about change, or at least begin to change, and the reality I've come to know and loathe will dramatically alter. Familiar faces will be replaced by new ones, and comfortable surroundings will be substituted by foreign hallways.

Change and tradition don't always lie at opposite ends of the spectrum; change is in many ways a tradition. It's tradition to leave home and enter a collegiate institution or the workforce. This is a time of constant and considerable change, no matter how much you want to cling to what's always been.

I can't even count how many times I've heard "I can't believe we're seniors" or "I can't believe we're graduating" in the past nine months (I recently had a dream in which Lorelai Gilmore and I had a long discussion about how fast the last four years have flown by). I myself still can't fathom that this column will represent the last deadline I failed to meet, the last article my friends said they read but really didn't.

It is difficult to comprehend - the subtle changes that happen over long periods of time. We always think of transitions as sudden, some abrupt shift that seems to happen over the span of a couple seconds. However, some of the most important changes are the ones you don't even notice, the seemingly minute variations that take hold when no one's watching. It's this kind of mutation that occurs during a person's years in high school.

There are a lot of things about high school that I'm not going to miss. There's no worse sound in the world than an alarm clock (the introductory chords to "You Raise Me Up" are a close second), and there's no worse feeling in the world than losing that big game, getting a II when you should have got a I, staying up until dawn writing an essay over a book whose plot you now can't even recall.

I'm not gonna reflect fondly on cross country practices in the sweltering heat, marching band practices that seem to be going nowhere or the petty underclassmen drama that littered these halls. I am, however, going to miss the cross country team, the marching band and the petty underclassmen drama that littered these halls.

It's (really, really) trite, but it's true: People are high school. Algebra tests won't change your life, at least for the better, and knowing the lineage of Babylonian kings may or may not have a huge influence on the rest of your life, but the human context of it all will stay with you (whether you like it or not) far longer than the facts themselves.

You can candy coat the truth until your gums bleed, but after graduation there will be friends, or at least close acquaintances, that you will probably never see again. Your close friends, however, don't have to make permanent exits from your life. It may take a little work, but I plan on keeping the friends I have, not replacing them.

The class of 2007s feelings about New Concord are as diverse as a United Nations meeting: Some adore its small-town appeal, while others feel suffocated by its isolation. No matter what your personal view on the matter is, we all can agree that it was this town and this school that made us who we are today.

The changes may have been difficult to distinguish, but something happened to all of us when we first walked through those double doors, underneath that handsome awning. Everything we do, say, hear, feel and think changes us; it's impossible to just stand in one place.

Not all tradition is bad. Few would argue against the singing of the Alma Mater after football games, and even less would find conflict in the class-against class rituals that are the homecoming games. These traditions do serve a purpose, a very vital one to this school.

I guess it comes down to choice; when a person's choice becomes less important than keeping with what's always been, a serious problem arises. Keeping with tradition has the force for good, but it can also keep you from doing the things you want, saying the things you're dying to say.

Don't play a part. High school is a time for change, not for copy-and-pasting yesterday and calling it today.

In fact, just to practice what I preach, I'm not going to finish thi...