Change is the process by which the future invades our lives.
– Alvin Toffler, American writer
There has to be someone or something we can turn to for stopping the of ethics and morals leading to the dismantling of decency and orderliness. There is no reason or purpose to accept the status quo inundated by lawlessness and infected by injustice unless we have become immune to this sorry state of affairs.
Agents of change are sorely required in the public sector. Why they are not standing up as the most desirable and dependable of the citizenry is a vexing concern. They surely need no motivation as it’s in their DNA.
Organised crime today is another form of government where the crime-stoppers and crime-creators come from the same fabric. Helplessness, apathy and arrogance step in neatly and nicely. The business of government trudges along maimed, deaf and blind but totally alert and aware to the next elections.
Agents of change have been replaced, at least temporarily, by the agents of necessity. This creates agents of sufficiency and the quintessential agents of passivity where nothing happens except to watch things go down the drain as if it is the national anthem sung in reverse. Many shrug their shoulders as a patriotic gesture.
You are nothing but the personification of naivete if you think the law is the agent of change, and that justice will prevail with its multiple manifestations of meaningless platitudes. Legislatures are an insult to the agent of change. They serve an artificial function not a beneficial purpose.
Religion attempts to teach devotees to effectuate meaningful change in the temporal glitter. Religious scriptures describe the abstract to the materialistic devotee who finds it impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Established anti-corruption agencies and crime prevention agencies seem to take instructions and directions from nobody in power because they tend to become the self-executing ultimate authority of power. The creator becomes the creature of uncontrollable proclivities which soon destroys itself as an act of worthy self-sacrifice.
The entrepreneur Noam Brodsky warned that either you’re an agent of change or you are destined to become a victim of change. You simply can’t survive over the long term if you insist on standing still. Many prefer this stance. Doing nothing while watching the rot is a dishonourable, despicable and disgusting choice.
Former British prime minister Harold Wilson once remarked that he who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution that rejects progress is the cemetery. Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely exhorted an unknown agent and advocate of change.
A genuine 24-carat agent of change is one who believes that it may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird, but a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while it is still an egg. We must remind ourselves that the key to change is to let go of fear acting as the sum total of ignorance, stupidity and doubt.
The agent of change must first begin as an agent of changing attitudes. In the David and Goliath saga, we learn that everyone said Goliath was too big to kill. The shepherd boy realised Goliath was too big to miss. Never miss attitude adjustment that kills fear.
Many moan and lament that their country is going down the drain. These are the millions who devour any and all media headlines that scream the problem but never anything resembling solutions and remedies. The attitude of impotency coupled with a sense of helplessness is a malignant cancer in a stagnant society.
The culture of distrust for change is inevitable even in social and recreational clubs where pettiness and envy escalate to back-stabbing with the inevitable I-sue-you-and-you-sue-me syndrome egged on by members who happen to be practising lawyers.
Change has to be our destination wherein the journey becomes our destiny. We have no choice. We cannot wait for those in power and authority as they relish the challenge of chaos. It’s in their DNA.
Those who care and dare must change the mistaken and misguided education system that excludes lessons, sessions and discussions in civic consciousness. Do something to fix it even if it precipitates huge mistakes in the bargain. Don’t stare at nothingness.
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing, said George Bernhard Shaw. We must learn to yearn to unlearn.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
