It occurred to me today that a change might not always “do you good.”

WARNING: THIS ONE IS A LITTLE LONG.

Sheryl Crow, great singer and song-writer, has been writing wonderful music for many, many years; she wrote a number of very notable songs, especially in the nineties and early oughts, and if you were really into music during those years, then you probably know a number of them. The song that I’m thinking of, as I’m starting to write this blog, is probably in her top ten or top fifteen, depending on which list you are looking at. It’s called A Change Will Do You Good, and it was catchy and fun, in its own particular way. I just listened to it again, for the first time in years, and I was transported back to the last decade of the twentieth century, as much fun as that was for me.

Despite how I might receive this song when I hear it, or how much it takes me back to a pleasant past, I must disagree with Sheryl Crow.

Sometimes, change is not appropriate.

* * *

I’m a teacher, and in education, we seem to be particularly susceptible to the ‘flavor of the week’ syndrome, whereby we will try this thing and that thing and the other thing to try to help us in our work in reaching young minds.

Every couple years, or few years at the most, there comes along a new theory in the world of education that is begging to be tried. Rather than sticking to our guns and riding a particular theory out for long enough to discover whether or not the approach might have any legitimacy, we change our approaches and our methods so often as to beg the question, “Is it just the case that we are having problems being effective because we can’t stick with a singular approach for more than twenty-five seconds?”

This doesn’t just happen in education, but rather, I think it’s a symptom of a disease that is eating away at our nation. We tend not to be very good at committing to things, so we try something for a moment or two, and when it doesn’t work, we change our approach.

I saw a meme on Pinterest a while back about a person who has worked on their physical fitness for two weeks and is disappointed with the results that they’re not seeing. I wish that it only took two weeks to get back in shape, believe me. Instead, it is an arduous journey that probably has as many steps in it that there were in the journey that I took to get ‘out of shape’.

The sad truth of the matter is that we have usually further to go than we wish we had, in order to get where we want to be, and usually less stamina than what is required.

* * *

We live in a neighborhood with a rental property; who doesn’t these days, am I right? The thing about a rental property is that tenants come and tenants go. Whenever a change in residency comes to this house across the way, my wife and children and I become significantly more interested in the situation than we are when there is someone living there who happens to be a known entity.

A few years back, the situation was not good in the house across the way.

The man who was living there with his girlfriend, the two of them were in a bad way. He had a bit of a rage issue, and a fellow neighbor and I were responsible, it seemed, for keeping an eye on this property, and the goings-on, from different sides of the street. The cops were called on multiple occasions, and that man was not nice to his girlfriend, for sure. For the few short years that the situation across the street was problematic, we were certainly looking for a change to take place.

And the good news for us was that the change eventually came. The previous tenants moved out, and the new tenants have been much more enjoyable.

The particular property that I’m speaking of is owned by a friend of mine who rents his property out through a management agency, and has done so for almost as many years as we’ve lived across the way from his house. But, come to find out, this summer my friend decided that he was done with the rental property process and is deciding to sell the place.

So, it seems like we are going to be getting some new arrivals in the neighborhood soon (again). The problem with this is that, I liked these last tenants. I don’t want a change, because I recognize that there are situations in which change could lead to something worse than what you have now.

But, truth be told, I’m pretty sure that this is always true.

* * *

I saw that a coworker of mine, a fellow teacher, posted on social media their support for a particular candidate for the school board where we work. In this coworker’s post, I noticed the phrase, “It’s time for a change.”

Now, considering that the person, that this coworker of mine is suggesting for the school board, is not a person that I think would be a good school board member, maybe it’s the case that I’m just being disagreeable. But, when I look at the way that things are going for my school district right now, we are finally starting to get to the place where things are going well, where we are starting to fire on all cylinders. I would imagine that this coworker of mine, who is a bright young educator, must not be in agreement with me; otherwise, why would they want to change a good thing.

As often as anyone has ever used the phrase, “It’s time for a change”, I suspect that there have been other people who’ve disagreed. This fellow coworker of mine is probably thinking that the candidate for the school board that they are condoning will bring some of that positive change.

Just remember, not all change is progress, just as not all steps are forward steps.

* * *

Try to think of a situation in which you believed that change was necessary. Maybe you’ve been opposed to a person in a position of leadership (perhaps political) over you or the people of your particular municipality, and you thought that it was time for a change. Maybe your favorite sports team, who has been starting that certain player over and over, despite the fact that THEY SUCK, and you thought that it was probably time for the team to head in a different direction. Maybe you’ve become tired of the vehicle that you’re driving, and you thought that “a change would do you good.”

The problem with this line of thinking is that the people who are normally in the mood to feel this way have become desperate, and their desperation has convinced them that things are currently so bad that there really isn’t much of a chance that things could be worse.

Trust me, things could always be worse.

In Michigan, at this present time, everyone in the state is of one of two possible opinions: you either like our current governor, or you don’t. For the people in the state who don’t like her, they’d just as soon have her ousted as ever look at her again. As a matter of fact, come to think of it, the current political landscape in America is one of polar entrenchments everywhere you look –> you either like the governor, or you don’t; you either like the President, or you don’t; you either like a certain political party, or you don’t.

What I’m afraid that people are loosing sight of is this: don’t you think that a move for a change is necessarily a dangerous move? Who’s to say that, when we get rid of something that is unpleasant, we aren’t just opening ourselves up for something more unpleasant?

Maybe, what we really need to change, is our minds.