Change

“Change” is defined as:
1. To cause to be different
2. To go from one phase to another
3. To put on a different clothing
I could probably list other meanings for this word because there are so many cases that we use the word “change”. In addition, the usage of this word varies by the situation and from one person to another. Sometimes people consider a certain behavior or situation as “changed” while others may disagree. However, I believe we all agree that we should observe or sense difference(s) comparing two states to realize a change.
Change is inevitable in nature and specifically in human’s life. In fact, without change we are not alive. I want to differentiate various changes in human’s life based on my perspective of life. First, there are changes because of the human’s nature. Certain rules are imposed to human’s life because he is a live species: he is born someday, ages by time and eventually dies. I think these are important changes, yet so natural that we should just try to adapt ourselves. The more interesting change is the one that we decide to make it happen based on reasoning (hopefully). This category of changes is the day to day struggle of human’s life. That is exactly why you see some people always avoid change because first they are not wise and courageous enough to go through decision making process and also not strong enough to face the consequences of the change. On the other hand, you see many people who fails because they do not think before they act. In summary, a change must have the followings: 1) a reason, 2) a plan, 3) execution process, and finally 4) adaptation plan. I would say missing one of the four elements leaves you a bad memory.
After the above introduction, I want to discuss “change” from political point of view in our country Iran. We have a long history of changes: good and bad. Some of them were outstanding like nationalizing oil while some others were disasters like choosing a person as president with absolutely zero knowledge of running a small community, let alone a vast country like Iran. As far as my age and knowledge allows, we have been told that this is going to “change”! But I think what they are referring to is the third meaning of the word “change”. Honest to God, have you seen an event or behavior which leaves you the impression of real change? Of course, I have noticed many but unfortunately in the wrong direction. We are going through many changes leading our great nation to a swamp. This means when we get there, the more we try to get out, the less we succeed. I am hearing many slogans these days about major changes in the foundations. Are you kidding me? Are we that stupid to believe these statements? This is the way that a dictatorship presented as democracy works: they tight and loose the string around people necks. My beloved father always told me that “The donkey has not been changed, they just replaced the saddle”!
However, I believe some minor changes in the right direction could lead to major ones. So we cannot miss any opportunity to turn this ship around. Unfortunately, even those who sense the reason for change, do not have a plan or if they do, they do not stick to it. Not having a good execution team is another weakness. The worst part, I think, is how they want people to adjust to the change. A decision is made over night, executed tomorrow morning and people are expected to adopt and accept the change by the afternoon. I think this is the way they want to rule not only the country but also the world. What a nice management we have!