“A word spoken is past recalling.” This is the cultural treasure our great ancestors passed on to us. As a result, we are taught to keep our promises from the day of our birth. However, being completely dominated by promises, will we lose something more important? We should learn to break some old promises that no longer apply to current situations.
Some people may hold a strong objection to this opinion because they consider that broken promises can cause guilt and disappointment. A person who breaks his promises is untrustworthy, and thus is rarely associated with success. Keeping promises is not only a matter of reputation, but sometimes it also relates to the destiny of many people. For instance, a president’s promise lights millions of people’s hope and a company’s promise may turn into the motivation of all its employees. If these promises are broken, the consequences will be tragically terrible.
This may be right to some extent, but the attitude to promises should not go to extreme. Mars once said, ‘For the shake of a good result, we should have a vision of development. Therefore, when promises are no longer geared to the new condition but instead become a yoke which ties us down, why not just throw them off?’
There are many examples that emphasize sticking to promises can lead to disastrous consequences. Hu Shi, a famous writer in our history, led a miserable life in private because of a promise he made to his mother. Promise was to maintain his marriage with his present wife, who he didn’t love at all. However, his real lover had been waiting for him sorrowfully until the end of her life, without seeing Hu Shi again. What is the root of this tragedy?
This example again proves that sometimes we need to break some promise, since nothing is absolute in this ever-changing world. Breaking promises is not necessarily breaking the existing social ethics and values, but it will give the license to truly live our lives. If the significance of a promise no longer lingers on, and the content of it is proved ungrounded, we should never let promises tie us down.
When your back is burdened by too many unnecessary promises, you will miss the beautiful scenery along the road of your life. Put some of them down and shake off the yoke of promises and what welcome you will be beautiful ribbons of freedom, blowing and billowing in the wind.

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