Compromise is alright

 You can't force change on people. Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is alright, as long your values don't change. Jane Goodall

Life is full of compromises and change. Every day as we grew up, we learned the fine art of compromise. We like to get our own way and do our own thing, but we live in a society that has norms, rules, and laws, that we follow. Humans are by nature social creatures; we need to be around others.

Covid isolation was a hardship for many of us. We figured out how to use technology to communicate with others, but it was never the same as being in the same room. Jane Goodall is right to say compromise is alright and we need compromise to exist and to understand our place in our society. Change is not good or bad, but it is constant. Our understanding of change, seeing it as good or bad, I believe, depends on how fast the change happens and how it affects our understanding of how the change affects those things that we value.

There is an old story of a dog that fell down a very old and dried out well and the farmer could not get the animal out as it appeared to be injured. The farmer saw the well as a danger to the young children on the farm and even though he hated the thought of losing the dog, the farmer decided to fill the well in with dirt. So, the farmer and his family started to fill the well. It took a long time, and they did not pay much attention as they threw the dirt in as they were all sad about the dog. When the well was about three-quarters full, one of the children noticed that the dog was at the top of the pile of dirt. As the farmer and the children threw the dirt in the dog, dug himself out and just kept climbing up. The farmer and his children were happy, and the dog was rescued. Over time change can bury us, or we can figure out a way to cope and survive the change.

When confronted with change around us, we change, and when we change, our values change. The question we face does our values reflect who we are and what we believe, not whether or not our values change.