Change

Change is inevitable whether we like it or not.

Everything in the world we know changes over time. Everything from the biggest buildings down to the tiniest speck of dust. Though they do not seem to change, but change does happen. Though they are not alive, but change is present in ways that we cannot see with naked eyes.

No matter how beautiful the building looks like, with the changes in wind and weather, they too age. No matter how sturdy the building seems to be, with the movements of earth, they too will one day crumble. We may not live to see that day but it will happen one way or the other. Even if they do not crumble over thousands of years, there will be new lifeforms taking over the entire built up. It is evident with many of the historical civilizations that we have uncovered thus far.

Dust, on the other hand, is so small that we cannot see them unless they settle onto surfaces. Dust is something that is created whether or not with the existence of lifeforms. It is so tiny that it is easily brought over to many places by the wind. No matter how tight we try to seal hour homes, dust exists somehow or the other. There is no avoiding the existence of dust. We can only cleanup the surfaces that we see is lined with dust. This moment, they can be joyfully floating in the air, the next moment they end up on the table. If they could relate to us their feelings, perhaps they would have told us that they are stuck in that spot forever. Somehow, we picked up a cloth and wiped them off the table. We clean the cloth and they get washed down the drain. They will end up as sediment somewhere. Over a period of time, life grows and this sediment becomes the food that nurtures life.

Things that seem may not be so.

No matter how much we try to believe that everything we have now is the best, there is always something better elsewhere. There is no one best thing that happens to anyone or anywhere. Everything can never avoid change.

Humans are very strange creatures. We love to think that we are the superior species above all species. While this shows confidence in ourselves, we really do not know what our thoughts are doing to us. Confidence is great. But being over confident brings in a problem, arrogance. When we are too proud of ourselves and our achievements, we tend to think that we have reached that level of success that we yearn. And because of our arrogance, we brush off everyone around us as being a level below us. We only listen to our foolish self for the things that sounds right in our ears. Whatever advice we get from others seem unimportant.

Sometimes, this arrogance will hinder us from advancing. We already have everything we need, why would we want to make the change? Change is dangerous. What if we lose everything after making that small change? Perhaps we are too comfortable in our current situation to admit that it was change, in the first place, that brought us to where we are now. It was change that gave us a better life.

We have been living through huge changes from the day we were born. When we were infants, we needed help on everything. As we grow, we learn, we stumble, we fall, and we get back up. If toddlers can do that over and over until they succeed in walking independently, why not us? Perhaps we believe to keep the achievements we have thus far and stay happy with it. Perhaps we believe what we have now is the best we can achieve in our lifetime. Perhaps it is true that if we make, even one small change, our life will tumble down. So what?

Perhaps we have been made to believe so. Have we asked ourselves this question? What happened to the courage and determination that I had when I was young and daring?
What happened to the toddler in me?
Where is that rebellious teenager hiding?
Why are we ignorant?
Who are we listening to?
How did I become who I am today?

Wake up fool! It is time to make that change.

 

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi), Persian poet and Islamic scholar, 1207-1273