Brother, can you spare a dime?
Sep. 7th, 2008 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfield"I guess some people never change. Or they quickly change and then they quickly change back."
- Homer Simpson, The Simpsons: Season 3, Episode 10, "Team Homer"
There has been a lot of talk lately, particularly in the political echo chamber, about "change." I will not belabor the point with any more jokes about the ubiquitous call for change. It's all been done.
What I think is sort of ironic, though, is that most folks don't really like change very much. Don't people freak out when the cost of gas goes up a nickel, or when their favorite television show is pre-empted, or when somebody changes the taste of Coke?
And let's face it, most change is not very good. Here is an short list of things have changed over the last two decades: air travel, health care, IBM, the prose of John Updike, Microsoft Word, network television, Las Vegas, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Froot Loops. All worse. This is the basic concept of entropy: as time goes on, everything gets screwed up.
When someone says "they don't make them like they used to," the implication is clear: things used to be better. What happened? They changed.
Some of you are probably saying, "Wait a minute. What about technology. When I'm in my hybrid car with my iPod and my GPS device, sipping on a Frappuchino and chatting with a client on my cell phone via Bluetooth, things couldn't be more awesome." Well, my well-appointed friend, here's the difference: Technology isn't "change," it's "new." (My computer is obviously superior to the abacus, but this is like comparing the salamander to the alligator; they are different species.) Technological devices may get smaller, or faster, or even cheaper, but this merely accelerates obsolescence.
About a week ago, I mentioned that "I have never been particularly good at dealing with change. Anything that disrupts my routine will naturally confound me." It's a flaw, but it's a common flaw. My saving virtue is that I consider myself to be highly adaptive. After the initial pain, I ultimately get along well enough in uncomfortable, unpleasant, even untenable circumstances. One of these days I'm going to wake up and discover that I'm a cockroach.
But change still sucks. Later this month, my friend Ethan is moving up the eastern seaboard and away from the Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International area. He insists that the change will be good for him and his growing family. For his sake, I hope he's right and the positive change will prove the exception that proves the rule. And if there's anything Ethan loves, it's telling me that I'm wrong.
Good luck, Mr. Ethos. Don't let Philly change you.
- Homer Simpson, The Simpsons: Season 3, Episode 10, "Team Homer"
There has been a lot of talk lately, particularly in the political echo chamber, about "change." I will not belabor the point with any more jokes about the ubiquitous call for change. It's all been done.
What I think is sort of ironic, though, is that most folks don't really like change very much. Don't people freak out when the cost of gas goes up a nickel, or when their favorite television show is pre-empted, or when somebody changes the taste of Coke?
And let's face it, most change is not very good. Here is an short list of things have changed over the last two decades: air travel, health care, IBM, the prose of John Updike, Microsoft Word, network television, Las Vegas, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Froot Loops. All worse. This is the basic concept of entropy: as time goes on, everything gets screwed up.
When someone says "they don't make them like they used to," the implication is clear: things used to be better. What happened? They changed.
Some of you are probably saying, "Wait a minute. What about technology. When I'm in my hybrid car with my iPod and my GPS device, sipping on a Frappuchino and chatting with a client on my cell phone via Bluetooth, things couldn't be more awesome." Well, my well-appointed friend, here's the difference: Technology isn't "change," it's "new." (My computer is obviously superior to the abacus, but this is like comparing the salamander to the alligator; they are different species.) Technological devices may get smaller, or faster, or even cheaper, but this merely accelerates obsolescence.
About a week ago, I mentioned that "I have never been particularly good at dealing with change. Anything that disrupts my routine will naturally confound me." It's a flaw, but it's a common flaw. My saving virtue is that I consider myself to be highly adaptive. After the initial pain, I ultimately get along well enough in uncomfortable, unpleasant, even untenable circumstances. One of these days I'm going to wake up and discover that I'm a cockroach.
But change still sucks. Later this month, my friend Ethan is moving up the eastern seaboard and away from the Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International area. He insists that the change will be good for him and his growing family. For his sake, I hope he's right and the positive change will prove the exception that proves the rule. And if there's anything Ethan loves, it's telling me that I'm wrong.
Good luck, Mr. Ethos. Don't let Philly change you.
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To Everything Churn, Churn
Date: 2008-09-09 03:54 am (UTC)But as difficult as it all is, I'm a true believer in "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." In this particular case, I should be good and strong. I better be stronger, or the high blood pressure, increased anxiety, and increased risk of heart attack and stroke will do me in for sure.
Don't worry, I won't let Philly change me. After all, that's where I came from. If anything, it's Rochester, Newark, Aspen, Chicago and Baltimore that have changed me. Needless to say, we will miss you and promise to return often to give you heck.