Change Is Inevitable - Except From a Vending Machine

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."

At an interview recently for a frum program that is very much not focused on religion, the interviewer asked me with a kind of sheepish grin, "how will this program make you a better Jew?" It was on his list of questions and he was curious but he also acknowledged that the question was sort of strange, as the program is really not about religion. But maybe it wasn't really. I mean, shouldn't our goal in whatever we choose to do be to become better Jews, to change and come out different?

Change is good. I firmly believe that it is our goal in lives to change ourselves. But change is also scary, especially when you watch the world around you change slowly, person by person. There's always some comfort in the status quo, especially when the status quo is kinda nice. Which is not to say that I would like to stay where I am forever. I don't. But part of me is shouting as my head is spinning, "Stop! Don't change! I like things the way they are."