Justice Sotomayor on the Traditions in the High Court

I happened to catch C-Span's special on the Supreme Court, and was struck by the newest member of the Court's comments regarding tradition:

"[T]raditons anchor us in a process that's greater than ourselves; they remind us that the role that we are playing is not a personal role, not a role that should have a personal agenda, but one that has an institutional importance and that institutional importance is bigger than us."

There are so many aspects of life that this resonates with. Whether religious practice, national governance, school tradition, family ritual, or even corporate culture, traditions do anchor us and do remind us that we are but a part of something much larger than ourselves. This is not a revelation, but I did appreciate being reminded of it and I appreciated hearing Justice Sotomayor express it.