Death and Taxes

When I was about 10 years old I remember a wise adult informing me that there are just two things in life that are constant; death and taxes. And boy, were they right. Now that I've added 70kg and a receding hairline to my repertoire these two aspects of life seem be pretty constant alright. Unavoidable in fact.

But you know, I've realised that in this time I seem to have added a third constant to that list; and that would be change. These days we also have to regard change as a constant in our lives. It's all around us, all the time. It is the air that we breath.

Not that change wasn't always there. It was. There was just more time to deal with it. There were deadlines to meet, as there are today, but can you imagine that the fax machine was still 8 years from popularity. How on earth did anyone do anything in those days? The pace of life and business was less demanding, jobs still held a long term promise, and the need to change was less frequent.

One thing this century demands of us is that we accept change as a constant in our lives, and in doing that, learn to manage it successfully for ourselves. In the same way, I guess, that we come to terms (sometimes grudgingly) with managing the reality of death and taxes. We must pay attention to these things and prepare ourselves, or risk being taken by surprise.