How to deal with change

When I was in third grade we used to get these monthly newsletters, sort of like the newspapers that adults read.  They were usually only 4 pages long and mostly talked about all the amazing stuff that was going to happen in the future.  Lots of amazing stuff about engineering, science and rockets.  I remember a prominent article about how eventually the United States was going to adopt a new system of measurement called the Metric system.

It seemed like a very strange notion. 

I was used to knowing how to measure in inches, feet and yards.  I knew that, on a baseball diamond, the pitcher's mound was about 60 feet from home plate, and the bases were 90 feet from each other.  There was a way of calculating the equivalent distance in meters, but the number wasn't going to be a round number.  Same thing with distances in football.  And yet the article completely glorified the benefits of a metric system, which was mostly that it was easier to convert numbers within that system.

I dreaded what I feared was an inevitable shift to this new way of measuring things.  I knew it wasn't something I'd be able to deal with.

Then when I was about 12 years old my mom moved my brother and I to Panama, which is where she was originally from.  She plopped us into a Panamanian school where the kids spoke little English.  On Mondays the school would have us all assemble in the main courtyard to sing the national anthem, and obviously we're talking about the Panamanian national anthem here.  Needless to say, I wasn't pleased about this turn of events.  But I didn't have much say in the matter so I tried to get along as best I could.

I learned (actually re-learned) Spanish and managed to sort of get by in school.  I made some friends and even learned to sing the Panamanian national anthem.  All of that was hard at first, but it got easier. 

One thing that wasn't too hard, though, was learning the Metric system.  This is what they used in Panama, and apparently most other countries in the world.  Since everyone around me was using it I just sort of learned to estimate distances and volumes in that system.  To my surprise, there was no issue about 'converting' from another system.  And I was also surprised at how quickly I learned to 'think in the metric system.'  I also I learned something really important about dealing with change and the fear that comes when we encounter it.

I guess what I learned was that when you come upon some big change (especially an inevitable change that you can't control) the worst thing you can do is to keep trying to refer back to the old system.  Just accept the new system on its own terms and try to learn to think in that system.  Clinging to the old system is like fighting a riptide: it consumes a lot of energy and frequently leads to death.

Speaking of which, I believe I now understand why nature created death.  Most people think death is bad and serves no purpose.  They think we'd all lead wonderful lives if we lived forever.  I used to think that too.  But then I started wondering if immortality would be beneficial to society as a whole.  Imagine how slowly we would have evolved in our thinking (which includes a lot of prejudice, fear and silly notions) if our ancestors had lived forever.  How much significant change would have occurred? Probably not as much change as we have experienced.  We have had a steady rate of social change and societal advancement mostly because old ideas died off with people who couldn't accept new ones, even when they were better ideas.  So what I'm saying is that death might serve the purpose of allowing new ideas to surface and take hold. 

And I'm also saying that from now on perhaps we shouldn't be so disdainful of death.  Perhaps we should think of it more as nature's way of rebooting.