Further thoughts on the Need for Change

Over recent weeks I have been regularly talking to Rotarians about the need for change as we explore Engage Rotary - Change Lives and the alternative phrase Engage Change -  Rotary Lives.

Change is one of the constants in our lives, it's a natural part of the cycle of life.  It was Longfellow that said " All things must change to something new, to something strange".  It's this strangeness, the uncertainty, the unknown, that sometimes means we need to give change a hand.

We can very easily get in a rut, become to comfortable, complacent and think that nothing could be better than what we have now.  But so often as Kathleen Norris suggests disconnecting  from change and trying to hark back to the past does not work, "It loses the future".   What might be, what could be, the development process that takes us into the strangeness.

Some may ask why we need to consider change?  Take a look around, do we really want to carry on damaging each other, our planet and perhaps our futures?   Do we want the number of Rotary members to continue to dwindle away as our communities demands increase? As Prof Irwin Carey says " If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going ..."  

The world around us is changing, technology, communications, peoples increased expectations are all part of the change processes going on. 

So how do we give change a hand?

We can take a look at where we are now and ask where we want to be in the future and then do something about it.

We could wait for natural evolution to take its course, but do we have the time? Some form of active revolution may be required.

We need to listen to those with a vision of how a future might be and grasp their ideas.  Some may work, others not but to do nothing is not an option.

Andy Warhol said that "They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

So perhaps Apple was right and the quote below, shown in the video, needs to be taken even more seriously now than ever.   http://youtu.be/tjgtLSHhTPg

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them. Disagree with them. Glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world Are the ones who do. "   

Rotarians are changing the world; ending polio, providing clean water and sanitation, educating young women, and much much more .....  We have to be able to continue this work for many years to come.