I’m struggling to get a handle on this amorphous and malleable political idea, CHANGE.
Change implies more than one option. Change requires possibility. With change comes vulnerability and uncertainty. To be open to change is to be daring, willing to risk failure. The results of change are unpredictable. The motive for change is to improve or to progress, but change can have multiple effects. Some results may be improvements or progress; other results may be disruption, deterioration, decline, decapitation, decay, disintegration, death.
Change requires choosing, it demands decision-making: Yes or No; Right or Left; This Way or That Way. Saying “Yes” to one option means saying “No” to other options. But how can you know beforehand if the results will be for good or ill, right or wrong? Delaying or refusing or failing to decide is itself a decision.
Change is profound, mysterious. An airplane taxis down the runway. It is rolling on wheels. In an instant, the airplane ceases to roll and begins to fly. Change requires not only willingness and daring, but also potential, suitability and readiness. An airplane has the potential to change from rolling to flying because it has wheels and wings. A car can roll, it can roll very fast, but it can never fly. It doesn’t have that potential. Such a change would be impossible for a car.
Readiness is crucial. Timing is everything. On landing, the wheels of an airplane must touch the runway at the instant that the airplane ceases to fly. Therefore, planning, judgment and skill are necessary.
Although an airplane can take flight in an instant, most change is slow and incremental. Change takes a long time. The airplane has to be invented, designed, engineered, manufactured, tested, maintained and fueled. The pilot must be trained. Wind and runway conditions must be favorable. Then the change seems to happen in an instant.
Communication, cooperation and coordination are necessary for complex change. The communication and cooperation can involve two people or 2 million. Complex change may involve teamwork or large organizations. Ingredients need to be combined in the proper amounts. Actions need to be taken in the proper order, at the proper time.
Disobedience, disorganization, miscommunication, disinformation, disinterest — many things can frustrate change. Apathy, passivity, aggression, sabotage can prevent change. Obstacles to change may be insurmountable.
Self-interest and special interests often oppose change.
Dysfunctional bureaucracies and institutions resist change.
In a democracy, change would seem to require discussion, debate, compromise, accommodation, and a majority. On the other hand, usually it is a minority that begins the movement for change. Sometimes a minority can force change.
The election of Barack Obama would be a symbolic and hopeful change. Barack Obama as president would be a historic change for Americans, black and white. It would signal a healing of racism and injustice, a coming together of One America. And yet divisions in America would continue. Healing takes a long time. Scars and memories remain.
I hope and believe that Barack Obama can inspire and lead change. But there is much work to be done, many obstacles to overcome, and no guarantee of success.
– Bernie Hayden
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