Dear SJA Families;
It is always so amazing to me how quickly the month of May flies by. As always there are mixed feelings about the passage of time. As we watch the students grow and change it is interesting to witness the flux in alliances and perspective also! The school itself is full of change and though we may miss some of what has been….we also hope toward a future that has many positive exchanges for us to partake in.
I thought it would be interesting to cover the definition from Wikipedia. It might even give us insight into why change can be so difficult for us to embark on at times.
“… the meaning of change is in terms of variation. Change is the word used to describe the transition that occurs from same to different. Change, the quality of impermanence and of flux, has had a chequered history as a concept. In ancient Greek philosophy, while Heraclitus saw change as ever-present and all-encompassing, Parmenides virtually denied its existence. Ptolemaic astronomy envisioned a largely static universe, with erratic change confined to less worthy spheres. Medieval thought fostered great respect for authority and revelation, severely cramping any encouragement of change.
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz harnessed mathematical concepts into calculus to provide mathematical models of change. This constituted a major step forward in understanding flux and variation.
With the rise of industrialisation and capitalism, the importance attached to innovation grew, and social and political upheavals and pressures often forced change by violent revolution (as in North America in the late 18th century and in later imitators). By the late 20th century much business and New Age thought focussed enthusiastically on transformation in management, in function and in mental attitudes, while ignoring or deploring changes in society or in geopolitics. And Madison Avenue receives payment to repeat the litany of the fad for change: In the fast-changing world of today, you need ... product X.”
Some quotes about change for us to reflect on:
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." ~ Anatole France
"All things in this world are impermanent. They have the nature to rise and pass away. To be in harmony with this truth brings true happiness." ~ Buddhist chant "Change is not merely necessary to life -- IT IS LIFE." ~ Alvin Toffler
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." ~ Tolstoy
"For me, words are a form of action, capable of influencing change." ~ Ingrid Bengis
"If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic." ~ Hazel Henderson
"In the same way as the tree bears the same fruit year after year, but each time new fruit, all lastingly valuable ideas in thinking must always be reborn." ~ Albert Schweitzer
"In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." ~ Eric Hoffer
"It is not a matter of exposing one's unchanging identity, the true self that has always been, but a way of exposing one's ceaseless growth, the dynamic self that has yet to be." ~ James Carse
"Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed." ~ Irene Peter
"Of the forces which are imperceptible forces, none is greater than that of change ... all things are ever in the state of change ... therefore the I of the past is no longer the I of today." ~ Chang-tzu
"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." ~ Alphonse Karr ** Translation: "The more things change, the more they remain the same."
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
"The only thing that doesn't change, is change." Bob
To change is good; to dream is better; to serve outweighs the rest!!
God Bless You All,
Machelle Nagel, MA Ed.
