Accepting Changes

Accepting Changes

“A true measure of intelligence is the ability to change” – Albert Eonstien

The only thing that never changes is the occurrence of change, itself. There has never been a period in human history that did not witness serious changes in some aspect of life or the other. However change, today is a daily phenomenon. This is necessitated by the fast changing technologies and the faster changing mindsets of the people.

Change for the sake of change is a new concept that the newly evolving family and social system has started accepting. Change in the social sense requires changing the way you deals with your peers, people of a different generation and of the opposite gender. It requires you to accept or at least rethink your acceptance of thoughts and ideas that are presented to you by a younger generation, even, your ten year old.

Families have changed shape. From joint family system to nuclear families was a quantum shift that took nearly a century. However, the speed with which adaptive migratory family system, where a couple dissolves a family or creates a new one as part of convenience is a concept that was very revolutionary just a decade back, but is a serious contender for family system now.  Societies too have shifted in many ways. This is especially true in the values adopted, the objectives of associating and the perception of the results.

Let’s look at the reverse of this. A social system like a family used to move forward on the terms of mutual love, respect and acceptance. The system sets up residence creates a lifestyle then deploys resources. This then is adopted as the way forward until, situation necessitates minimal changes. It need be noted that the changes are effected in a manner that is non disruptive. The family thus moves on as does a social system. Sounds like a sound solution and has been the norm over decades, maybe even centuries.

So why should families and social societies have to change overnight. What is the need for changing from a system with a semblance of permanence, to a system with all the marks of chaos and impermanence? Why should social systems implement changes to soundly running ways of life? What is the need for hectic weekly changes?

To put it very simply – the speed of the evolving technology, the urgency to keep moving with the newer attitudes of times, the need to disrupt a staid and routine system……

Today’s communication and information system stays brand new for, well, a month, if you are lucky. The mobile phone with all the latest gizmos, that you bought last week, gets appreciative looks for a month, two if you are lucky. This necessitates keeping up with the societies around and your next door neighbor. Sooner or later you will need to incorporate those changes. Your child will demand it as will the younger generation in your society. The demands of your career, to keep moving at frequent intervals and the way it conflicts with the schedules of your spouse make the old family system almost impossible. You do not stay long enough in a locality long enough to be part of a society or club that you opt for one that is online.

Social attitudes change every day. Spare the rod and spoil the child, a saying that was the vogue of an earlier time, could well land you in jail. Gender based societies and clubs are fast disappearing. Values change and so does the criterion of success. It is no longer, okay to follow routines, set for you, but to make quick and adaptive changes, not just in the way we work or the machines we work with. It is imperative that these changes also reflect on our mindsets too.

Finally, the need to disrupt preset routines. It seems idiotic to change systems that have worked pretty well for us. It is a fair argument that those systems have proven their worth over time and have given us a great family and social system. So what then is the need to implement changes to these systems?  A routine induces a staid attitude to life and a repetitive nature to work. It sets a laid back mentality in minds, and creates a resistance to change in minds. In short, while the world moves on, we sit back in our seats and wait till the station is long past.

Let us accept it. We have no way of stopping change, the best we can do is to change. Only CHANGE is permanent.