plus ça change
There's no sense in something new just for the sake of something new. Novelty itself is no reason to do something a new way. Change is good if it's a good change, but if it doesn't demonstrably improve things then it's foolish.
Ever know someone who said that? Ever said it yourself? The fact is that change for its own sake is very very valuable. The strong don't always survive, but the adaptable do: if you never build your muscles of adjustment, of embracing and living with and thriving with change, then you'll never be able to adjust when you really need it.
Your curtains are just fine. Nothing wrong with them. Your furniture arrangement works: piano over here, chairs over there. Great. But sometimes you should just get new curtains, rearrange the furniture, try a different brand of shampoo, get a new haircut, get something that's a different color than you usually get, take a different path to wherever you're going.
Novelty turns out to be a wonderful thing to chase. It keeps you young and vital and alert and in tune.
If you have to come up with some demonstrable reason for something new, some proof that it's a positive good rather than a neutral difference, then you're setting the bar way way too low. (The bar for stasis, that is, for stasis is what we should have to defend.) You and I know too many people who think every new thing is New Coke. They're just plain wrong.
Ever know someone who said that? Ever said it yourself? The fact is that change for its own sake is very very valuable. The strong don't always survive, but the adaptable do: if you never build your muscles of adjustment, of embracing and living with and thriving with change, then you'll never be able to adjust when you really need it.
Your curtains are just fine. Nothing wrong with them. Your furniture arrangement works: piano over here, chairs over there. Great. But sometimes you should just get new curtains, rearrange the furniture, try a different brand of shampoo, get a new haircut, get something that's a different color than you usually get, take a different path to wherever you're going.
Novelty turns out to be a wonderful thing to chase. It keeps you young and vital and alert and in tune.
If you have to come up with some demonstrable reason for something new, some proof that it's a positive good rather than a neutral difference, then you're setting the bar way way too low. (The bar for stasis, that is, for stasis is what we should have to defend.) You and I know too many people who think every new thing is New Coke. They're just plain wrong.
Comments