Michael Lissack no doubt, more interesting-a word we often use to signal an uncertain mix of danger and opportunity. If we wish to enjoy more of the opportunity and less of the risk, we need to understand the changes better. Those who know why changes come waste less effort in protecting themselves or in fighting the inevitable. Those who realize where changes are heading are better able to use those changes to their own advantage. The society which welcomes change can use that change instead of just reacting to it. Some people, however, do not want to keep moving. Change for them means sacrificing the familiar, even if it is unpleasant, for the unknown, even when it might be better. Better the hole they know rather than the one not yet dug. Sadly for them a time of discontinuous change means that standing still is not an option, for the ground is shifting underneath them. For them, more than for the movers and the shakers, it is essential that they understand what is happening, that they begin to appreciate that to move and to change is essential, and that through change we learn and grow, although not always without pain. Our public officials are no different from you or I in that they too have trouble in dealing with this mass explosion of information. To have to deter- mine whether a community would be best served by competing cable tele- vision systems and among various water filtration methods while awarding teachers contracts and choosing a guardian for public pensions is a formida- ble task. Given that it is impossible for any one official to be expert on each and every issue which may come before him or her, it is not unreasonable to see such officials turning to outside experts for help? But, what goes unspo- ken is that even turning to outside experts is not enough. Given the multitude of decisions which need to be made, it is more dif- ficult to revisit an old and made decision when there are so many pending new ones. Some problems are easy to ignore. If no harm appears to come from ignoring a problem, we tend to continue as before. This can be done un- knowingly, as in the case of a disease whose symptoms are not recognized; or willingly, as we do so often with conditions such as obesity, smoking, or prob- lems of business. Why would anyone ignore a recognized problem? You think the problem is smaller than it is, and therefore that it requires no attention.
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