Change is what?

Ok, so I am really crunched for time today, so forgive me if what I say next is dense, inelegant, or even incomprehensible. I have been thinking a lot about change lately. Obama’s successful use of the word, and concept, during his campaign and the time since has really made it a buzz word for everything. In fact, what got me thinking about it today was a giant advertisement on a bus today for IKEA with their newest campaign slogan “Change is good” – imagine if you will, stumbling off a commuter bus at 7:00am to be confronted by a large yellow bus textually screaming “CHANGE is good”. It was a bit unnerving, especially since I was approached by a homeless man less than a block away who repeated the slogan – he only got 35 cents today, all I had.

Anyway, everyone is saying things like this: “Change is good”, “ I can’t wait for the change”, I am the change” . But what do we mean by “change”? It seems we just talk about change without thinking about how or what. We just assume it will be good because we’re convinced that the present is not good. We never consider the fact that things are always changing, much of it is neither good nor bad, it just is.

Look, I have nothing against Obama (yet), in fact I voted for him and believe he will be better for this country than McCain could possibly have been. However, before you buy into “Change is good” I think we should ask fundamental questions about what is changing, who is changing, why it is changing, how it will change, and what that change will mean in the short, medium, and long terms. Someone once said that change is the egg of the phoenix, just remember that the phoenix is born of ashes and ends in flames.Whatever the hell that means..

Eric in a Word: expergefacient

Book of the Day: The Analects- Confucius (William Edward Soothill trans.)

Song of the Day: Spoonful - Cream

God of the Day: Heimdall

Sketch Medium: Graphite and felt tip pen on used manilla envelope