Life 101–Life is Change

This morning we woke to a fresh, beautiful covering of snow, which filled me with excitement as we slogged through it on our way down the ridge to do morning chores.

It’s 5:00 now and the snow is completely gone.

Changes.

I know many people don’t like change, unless it happens to be a dramatic improvement that makes life easy and trouble-free, but those changes are rare. We’re facing many such changes in the world right now and if Americans were truly concerned about providing our own energy sources for national security, for looking into a future of diminishing fossil fuels and with a hope for a healthier future, then we would become serious about, among other things, alternate energy. Obviously we’re not concerned about much of anything but continuing to live as we are now, without having to face changes.

People want to believe there is no future in alternate energy, because, they say, look at what is happening with those sources right now and you can plainly see they cannot possibly provide inexpensive, reliable and plentiful energy. These people need only to dig through their short-sighted, self-imposed amnesia in order to see the truth by viewing our recent technological history to see what happens when we start working seriously on anything we put our minds to: remember computers sixty years ago? even calculators thirty years ago? are you aware of the changes t.v. has gone through in its history? radio? and every other technological advance we’ve made? Not a single one of them started out with the efficiency that later made them profitable and widely available.

Is anyone really so simple-minded and myopic that they cannot foresee the possibilities of such sources for energy in the future? I doubt it; sometimes I think some people are so afraid of change that they won’t even consider it if they aren’t forced to do so. After all, they will have to remember like plugging their electric car in when they get home from work and, even more challenging, they’ll have to remember to unplug it in the morning, with only a single cup of coffee in their systems, before they drive off for work.

I have little patience for such people, obviously. They don’t like to have to think. They like things the way they are now; or, even more commonly, they like things the way they used to be . . . the way they were when they were young, living in “the good old days” when, if something distressed them they could run home and close the door, get a big hug from mommy and daddy and a kiss on the forehead while being told that everything was going to be alright.

But we all have to grow up and face reality as adults. We have to learn to make tough decisions and, if we’re wise, when we figure out those decisions weren’t the best and our lives could be made better, we make new decisions and change directions. Unfortunately, wisdom seems to be as rare and elusive as space aliens.

And I worry that won’t change any time soon.