DEXTER NJUKA
IT IS said the only permanent thing is change. Yet as humans we are so anxious about change. Even when we do know too well that change is here with us.
Many would rather choose to be buried alive than experience some sudden change. But like death, we can’t avoid change. It does happen. Sometimes it’s a sudden occurrence like the dropping of a rotten mango from a tree. Sometimes it comes slowly like death of a bedridden person.
But then we can always learn to brace ourselves for it. If the change is to our disadvantage, then we can always be up to it before it occurs. There just comes a time when things have to change. This change can bring about a breath of fresh air to an organisation or an individual. It adds flare to the way of doing things.
Even in one’s life, there are many changes taking place in quick succession. And when one fails to catch up, they become ineffective and at times obsolete to society. There are things I have painfully learned the have changed about my life. I have lost the youthful vigour due to age. I have lost some friends due to the career I have pursued.
Even in marriage, with time some physiological changes occur between couples and if not carefully handled, marital conflicts can be so overwhelming.
There are situations where one’s wife, because of childbearing, she loses some of her physique and some husbands get out of their way complaining about the lost glamour.
I mean, we hear some men bitterly complain about their wives’ stretch marks. Some women also complain about the lost flare in their hubbies when it comes to performing their conjugal responsibility.
But there are times when change becomes a necessary evil. When an organisation is going through necessary rebranding, lots of changes take place, not to mention the casualties during the process.
This kind of change calls for an organisation’s complete overhaul. Change that goes from reengaging the old human capital to laying off some of it. Those employees that don’t narrow their focus to that of the organisation are swept away by this change.
Death can be a change that can leave a family devastated, especially death of the sole breadwinner. When a father has died, the family has not only lost a breadwinner but also a leader of that home. It takes time for the family to adjust to this change.
There is no clear cut way of insulating oneself from this change apart from accepting that change is inevitable and one has to move on with that change when it occurs.
If that change ends up displacing an individual, all that this person can do is to accept that such is life and move on.
Adapting to change is what has made companies such as Zampost and Zambia Daily Mail to survive.
The other time when I was checking on flight rates, I was surprised to learn that Zampost has now gone into airline ticketing. So instead of laying off some employees like Paul, who attended to me, because of stiff competition from the other money transfer firms that have suddenly chocked the market, Zampost had to create a booth for airline ticketing and thereby avoiding employee redundancy.
One time during the church business meeting I was chairing and as we discussed what kind of present to buy for the speaker who was visiting , I advised that we get him a gift voucher from one of the clothing outlets so he could get something of his choice. A woman stood and sternly spoke against that, that she couldn’t just stomach to see how pastors of this generation went about with such luxury.
I told her that I sympathised but the old generation wasn’t coming back and things had changed. Today’s pastors are also getting educated; they also get a check at the month-end and no longer go round asking for alms. Some even go global-trotting like CEOs and drive good automobiles, so ministry hasn’t remained static.
He or she who does not accept and adapt to change will soon realise that they have either become a menace to society or have become obsolete.
The author is a freelance Christian apologist and writer.