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Good News, Bad News About Change

Public radio is in the news business, but sometimes we forget the first three letters of that word news. The news is about what’s new.

We are deluged with the new. There’s always a new conflict in the battles over terrorism or a new technology. How about a wearable device that watches your blood sugar and releases capsules of glucose when your blood sugar runs low? 

And yet, for all that’s new, a great deal doesn’t change. The French even have an expression for this idea, and I'd like to state it here. My Texas drawl will only pollute it, however, so I''ll just give you the translation: The more things change, the more they remain the same.  

Pocket watches went away, but now they’re back in the form of smart phones. Telegrams went away, but now they’re back as text messages. Americans once took untested patent medicines; now they take untested herbals. 

If a Roman centurion came back to life in the 21st century, how would he ever learn how to program a GPS? But after a while he’d realize that jealousy, greed, lust, and hatred have not gone away at all. He’d think there was nothing really new under the sun.

That’s rather depressing, but it’s also comforting: In an age where there’s a next new thing every day, at least some things remain stable.

And that includes love, too. 

I'm Tom McBride, and that's my perspective.