A mother and her young daughter were cooking stew together. As the little girl stood beside her mother, watching intently how her mother was preparing the stew, she noticed that her mother was chopping a portion of the bone aside before placing it in her pot.

She was curious and asked "Mother, why do you remove that piece of the bone every time you prepare stew? "

Her mother paused.

" My mother used to do it. So i picked up the practice from her. But honestly, i don't know why she chops off this portion too."

So the mother rang up her mother, and asked her.

" Mother, do you still remember the stew you used to prepare? Why did you always chop off a portion off the bone before putting it for cooking?"

"Ah, the stew. Well you see back then, our pot wasn't big enough to cook the whole piece of meat, so i had to chop of a portion of the bone to fit the meat in! "


At times, we do things without knowing the meaning behind it. Generation to generation, a practice is passed down, and we simply carry them out without knowing why. It is important to understand why we do things, be it in Canoeing, in life, or in school. A practice back then had its reasons, and may not necessarily apply to present times. Sometimes, we need to make changes to improve. And it is only through understanding what we stand for, can we meet up with present times; by changing our customs while keeping our values unchanged.