Attempting change in our community

One night at sea, a ship’s captain saw what he thought were the lights of another ship heading toward him.  He had his signal man blink to the other ship, “Change your course 10 degrees south.”

The reply came back, “Change your course 10 degrees north.”

The ship’s captain answered, “I am a captain.  Change your course south.”

Another reply came back, “Well, I am a seaman first-class.  Change your course north.”

The captain was mad now.  “Darn it, I say change your course south.  I am on a battleship!”

To which the reply came back, “And I say change your course north. I’m in a lighthouse.”

A young journalism intern at the local newspaper was assigned to interview a resident on his 90th birthday. During the interview, she discovered that the old gentleman had been born in the town and had lived there his entire life.

“My,” the reporter said, “I’ll bet you’ve seen a lot of changes in the town in 90 years.”

“Yep,” the old-timer replied, “and I was agin every one of them.”

Nobody likes change except wet babies. People generally resist change because they have an investment in the status quo. The secret of success for a community is to be able to anticipate change, not oppose it.