Change

The one reliable fact of life is that change is constant. Whether for better or worse, whether sooner or later, change always comes. 

Humans have an innate desire to control and manage change for personal advantage and do their utmost in a myriad of ways to try and achieve desired aims. Sometimes plans and their corresponding actions achieve the intended outcomes and sometimes they don't. We call it "success" when plans work, and "failure" when they don't. Sometimes change arrives out of our efforts and actions that we didn't plan for or even see coming. We call that "lucky" when it's for the better, and "unlucky" when it proves to be for the worse. 

Sometimes, indeed often from my perspective, change in life arises from circumstances beyond our personal control. Akin to an avalanche, environmental factors grander than our personal creation are set in motion and we are simply caught up in their momentum. We can do little other than try to keep our heads above the fray, hoping to find solid ground again beyond the chaos to stand upon and re-establish our footing once more. Those environmental influences can be caused by natural forces or by human ones, but either way all we can do is try and manage what transpires in a manner that serves our personal well-being and interests while in the eye of the storm and until the dust settles. When such things occurring are good we call it "fortunate", and when bad we call it "misfortune" or "unfortunate".

The pace of change beyond my control and capacity to influence around the world, in my country, in my province of residence, in my local community, in my extended family, as well as in the affairs of my professional and personal lives has been staggering over the past few years. It has also been and continues to be, for the most part, bewildering, dismaying, disappointing, exasperating, frustrating and downright annoying in many respects as well. 

It seems from the external inputs and the experiences of my daily existence at every strata that I walked through a Stargate a while back and into a cyclonic atmosphere characterized by cruelty, callousness, maliciousness and contemptuous absurdity. The corrosive nature of discourses and the toxic character of inter-relations experienced and witnessed on a daily basis is rampant to the point of being rabid. I recall drunken dizziness and delirium following a few Cabarets in my College years that today pale in comparison to the sense of disorder and disorientation that exists for me in the Now, and evidently for many others as well. I am an intelligent being, pretty well-educated, decently well-read too, and I think for the most part I am pretty level-headed and lack no sanity. For the life of me, I am no less dumbfounded in understanding and making sense of any of it. It is as though genuine madness has afflicted the vast majority of souls in what used to be my social network and throughout the rest of the globe as well. 

The greatest challenge in times such as these is not to become jaded and hardened by the onslaught of negativity, animosities, antagonisms and rejections. It is easier said than done, with good days and bad along the journey, but at least so far I remain optimistic that the storm will pass and better days still lay ahead for me and for humanity as well. Without that daily dose of faith I would have thrown in the towel already several rounds ago. I am either too stupid or too stubborn, or perhaps a combination of both, to accept that good times and brighter days will never come around again. The nature of life from my experiences and observations of it is a cyclical waxing and waning of all circumstances, whether they are good or bad, happy or sad. Sooner or later, change will come.

 A Chinese proverb says that, "the gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials", and Heraclitus is said to have observed, "it is in changing that things find purpose". Like a bird that feels the light and sings to greet the dawn before the sun has risen for a new day, belief and confidence must be the guides along the way.