Change

Change

   Expectations, we all have them.  We expect to finish, we expect our children will do well, we expect that we will live a long and happy life.  But along with our expectations invariably comes change, the old saying, "the best laid plans of mice and men..."  And what's not expected is that change often takes work.

   The contrarian, Peter Thiel, told Fortune that we expected "progress to continue. (We) looked forward to a four-day workweek, energy too cheap to meter, and vacations on the moon.  The smartphones that distract us from our surroundings also distract us from the fact that our surroundings are strangely old.  That doesn't mean our parents were wrong to imagine a better future--they were only wrong to expect it as something automatic."

   I wrote about this back in June of 1982, about feeling the need for change.  Usually the urge arrives without warning and often without our understanding. We grow not so much tired or old--rather it seems we grow apathetic and content.  Our jobs, our lifestyles, our loves, even our thoughts become settled.  We crave the security yet on finding it, crave the freedom, the open-mindedness.  So we search, a bit hesitantly, a bit frightened...and we change."

   Bruce Weber (author of Life Is A Wheel), at 57, decided that he needed a change, jumping on a bicycle to repeat his adventure of crossing the northern part of the U.S.  A bit older, and a bit more secure financially (his expenses were paid for), he had one other thing going for him...no expectations.  It's rather like my friend hiking the Camino Real in Spain...no expectations.  In his words, the lesson would find him.


   Change is not always for the better, I wrote. Sometimes it simply occurs and we are left the with difficult decision of moving on or resisting.  We often look to the tangibles --our cars, our homes, our friends-- and defend them as stables.  Yet what happens when change comes to our minds, our ideas, our thoughts...at what point does objectivity end?  We close doors to the new, as we out date the old.  New music, new art, new philosophies, new gods.  For mankind, change fights through the centuries, evolving into new religions, new morals, new forms of government.  In our search for ourselves, we discover and we concede...and perhaps, out of survival, we create the change that we so fear.

   This change was particularly evident in the controversial decision by the Nature Conservancy to hire former Goldman Sachs partner, Mark R. Tercek, as its new CEO.  But Tercek is actively working out a difficult mediation in Mongolia, where mining giants and big oil are pushing traditional nomadic herders out of their territory.  As Tercek put it in the Conservancy's recent magazine, "global energy and mining companies were poised to move into a nation eager for the capital those companies bring."  This not only meant working with U.S. companies, but also those in Russia, China and other large players.  Tercek approached Rio Tinto and began working in tandem...working with the enemy, as some members would put it.  But results are appearing...80,000 acres set aside with another 200,000 destined for improved management.  Skeptics abound but even long-held environmental groups are recognizing the need to adapt to a changing business environment.

   Said Tercek, "Conservation organizations and mining companies may not be traditional allies.  But as we look at the challenges ahead, we can't imagine not offering our expertise to help lessen industries' impact.  It will require honest dialogue and complete transparency, but we believe that the wildlife and people who depend on these landscapes will be the ultimate beneficiaries.  To achieve our mission of conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends, we must bring everyone to the conservation table."

   Change, even for a large oil company or a traditional conservation group, is slow and often not well received.  As one cartoon that showed two caterpillars talking in World Press Review captioned, "You know what worries me?  I've never seen an old caterpillar."  Change is scary.

   Just as we found that we were not the center of our solar system, and our galaxy was not the center of our universe, we have since found vast deserts of sorts, empty spots in our universe some 300 million light years across.  What's out there?  Or what's not out there?  Is our galaxy merely an oasis of sorts in a universe we never expected...our universe?

   To quote an old song, "For all we know this may only be a dream."  Why worry about the distant stars --about changing theories-- when we will perish long before speed-of-thought travel occurs, I wrote. It is a valid argument, as valid as the gnawing thought that counters with, "why not?"  As one philosopher wrote, "The day you are satisfied, growth comes to a halt."