Of Tradition & Learning

Sometimes traditions — habits, if you will — are passed from generation to generation in much the same way priceless heirlooms weave their way through the bonds of nucleic acid, outliving their original owners ad infinitum.

Take, for example, a small child — a ten-month-old boy in the nascent stages of developing language skills.

He says words like "Ma" and "Da da" and refers to all varieties of animals as "gogs" as he pats them on the head (OK, so it's not quite "dog," but it's close). He'll say "no" while shaking his head to whirled peas, and he'll say "down" when he's feeling restless in someone's lap.

All in all, a cute little boy who's ahead of the curve in this regard, stunning nurses and caregivers alike with an early grasp of language that his parents insist actually started at six months.

Now imagine the pride a first-time father must feel as his son crawls towards him, smiling and saying "Da Da," dragging his sippy cup along the floor.

The little boy sits at his father's feet, laughs, lifts his sippy cup to the world and bangs it on the floor — not just once or twice, but over and over again, yelling a single word with each hit:

"Beer!" he says. "Beer! Beer! Beer!"

The boy's father looks down at him, beaming, just as his grandfather had once done to him.