Maybe Ben Franklin Didn’t Get it Quite Right

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Ben Franklin 1706-1790

I’d like to respectfully suggest that one thing as certain as death and taxes is CHANGE! I have no doubt during the coming year all of us will experience it!

Change

To become different. To make different. To become something else.

Some change is expected and comes slowly, such as the growth, maturation and the development of a child. Other change will be sudden, unexpected and life altering, like the loss of a loved one. The question is not whether or not change will come, for it certainly will. The question is: How we will respond to the change that comes?

Over 34 years ago I married a beautiful bride named Debbie. It was only a few months before I started law school. Like most young couples we struggled financially. We fought for our educations, and we worked hard to be good to each other and the six children which eventually graced our home. As time passed, we both changed. Like a good deal of the change we experience in life, Debbie and I did not notice most of it as it occurred. It just became a part of our lives and part of the people we have become. Fortunately, the changes did not pull us or our family apart. Rather, they have brought us closer.

Some Change is Radical and Takes Effort on Our Part

Recently, during a workplace investigation I was performing, I had the pleasure of interviewing a gentleman who has been an Alcohol and Drug Counselor for almost 20 years. At one point in the interview I asked him, “When will you retire?” He smiled at me and said with a grin, “I’ll retire when I die! I didn’t work for 20 years, so I figure I’ve already had my retirement.” This counselor had been a drug addict for 20 years before changing the path of his life by overcoming his addiction, finding a job and dedicating his life to helping others change. We both agreed that it is a good thing that we can change our lives.