We’ve
all heard versions of the sayings involving change and constant,
right? Here are two:
The
only constant is change
The
more things change, the more they stay the same
Now,
yes, I deliberately selected these two ideas from what are millions
of offerings and possible phrasings. And I selected them, even
though my idea is consistent and similar, because they arrive
at opposite ends of the debate. One looks at how everything changes,
and the other sort of acknowledges that while pondering how nothing
changes at all.
That’s
where our wandering begins, because even the things that stay
the same battle changes. And sure, we can start off with a really
crazy example.
The
other day I was talking to Karen about phone numbers. Specifically,
we were talking about school yearbooks. More specifically, our
high school yearbooks.
One
of the common ways to close out a message when you were signing
a friend’s yearbook was to say something like K.I.T. (Keep
In Touch)
and add a phone number. My joke to Karen involved wondering how
many people still used the same phone numbers twenty to thirty
to more years later.
Let’s
say you approached some friends of yours—we’ll call them Wendy
and Mike for this—and asked them to autograph your yearbook. It’s
1980. 1985. 1990. They smile and accept, take the yearbook, write
a quick passage and sign it with an invitation to call down the
road.
Will
Wendy answer the phone if you call that number now, in 2023? Was
that where Mike’s family lived in those days? Are his parents
still there? If you call, will his mother answer and offer to
take a message or give you his new number?
Plenty
of people have landlines today. Nothing too crazy there, even
as cellphones have taken over. But how many folks have a connection
to the same landline number that they used back when homes usually
had just one stationary phone, located in the kitchen with a handset
attached by a cord?
Wait.
Don’t answer that. Because we all likely know a handful of people
that still use the same number they began using perhaps fifty
years ago. Instead… consider…
The
constant… the thing that’s stayed the same… involves asking if
you could call that number and get the same folks to answer. However,
the change comes into play when you see how time moves along,
technology adjusts, and the likelihood is those same people have
a cellphone that gets the majority of their calls.
We
can talk about restaurants and retail shops. Locally established
and family owned for more than one hundred years. Still using
the recipes of their great great grandmother. But are the ingredients
in her famous Sunday gravy coming from the same farm? The flour
and eggs and so on for pasta and desserts. All the same sources?
Same pots and pans and ovens? Probably not. Could still be phenomenal.
Likely is phenomenal. But it’s the same thing with changes.
It
all leads to a coin flip where calling “edges” actually works.
There are some things where both applies, and that can happen
even when shouting from the mountaintops that it’s one and not
the other. It’s the same but it isn’t. It’s changed but it hasn’t.
People convinced it’s the same are presented elements that have
unquestionably changed. People certain it’s changed are shown
ways it most definitely is the same. Doesn’t shift their view
or opinion that it’s one, but earns at least the smallest of nods
that it is both.
Is
the constant change? Can the passing of time be defied by staying
the same? As it changes, does it stay the same?
I
believe I would offer a bit of a twist on the old cliches and
observations. I think the reality is found in understanding what
is the same and what is different. It’s not that the more things
change, the more they stay the same. Instead, from a standpoint
of what we notice and why we notice it, I’d argue the more they
stay the same, the more they change.
We
find comfort in the familiar. It’s why we can say a person decorates
their house the way they do, and we might know what they’d like
and wouldn’t. It’s why we go to the same restaurants often. We
like what we like, and we want to continue enjoying it. We like
the same.
But
we also want the change. The better. The new and improved. The
discovered and enjoyed. Dare I say, we crave a bit of difference
and variety.
Constantly
inconsistently consistent. Here’s to the constant, may it comfort
and surprise you.