Making Changes

A photo on line of one of the protesters at a recent (unnamed) political rally showed an over-weight, slovenly young man with a sign that was, frankly, scary. It read, "Oppose Change," only the C had been made over into a Hammer-and-Sickle symbol. He was giving  the camera a vacuous grin. I had two immediate reactions: (1)Here was someone who was facing inevitable disappointment, as change in some form or other is inevitable. (After all, wasn't it the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who observed that no one can put their foot into the same river twice?) (2) We as a society have taken a human tendency- resistance to change- and held it up as a virtue.
We as a species do not like change. I have often pointed out that we accept change only when the pain of changing becomes less than the pain of staying the way we are.  (Odiorne's Law- patent pending) But the reality is that change happens whether we like it or not. The decision we must make is whether the change will be what we want.If we assume a passive stance, we have no idea and  no say as to the result. As the Zen saying goes, if you don't decide where you want to go,you will up someplace else.
As I said, change happens- anyway! Even our faith gets involved. We might talk of worshiping a God Who is the same, yesterday, tomorrow and always. But this is also a God Who constantly makes all things new. Each dawn brings a new day, completely distinct from the others before or those to come.
Of course, some deliberate changes end up the wrong ones anyway. We make choices that we wish we had not. There are no guarantees.But that does not get us off the hook We still must deal with the changes.That's what's called living.