Change

Change, states the hogwash cliché, is the only thing in this world that is permanent and inevitable. That everything has to change is a universal fact. Nothing and nobody is spared from getting a new form, taking a new shape, moving to a new place, assuming a new identity, joining a new class or starting a new job. The lifeless and the living, the animals and plants, the visible and the unseen are subject to natural and human induced metamorphosis. Change is the manifestation of life. What comes with it, success, failures, growth, regression, adaptations are rather optional.

Change comes in all forms, biological, chemical, emotional, spiritual and even those related to laws, education, government and conventions . A boy becomes a man, a boy becomes a girl. A boy grows beard, a girl grows boob. Water evaporates to gas, the clouds fall as rain, the genius becomes mad, your sister steals your fiancé, and your best friend trades you in for a hundred bucks, your faith crushes with a death of a loved one or devotion restored with a birth of a child. Oftentimes, we hear about climate change, charter change, season change, career change, political change and even sex change. The drama of change is served on the table of infinity. Nothing remains the same; like it or not, acknowledge it or not. Even when we think something is still the same, it has already changed. Life evolves, that's the reality. It makes us who we are.

FROM PIZZA TO PASTA
The house that makes your Meat Feasts and Hawaiians will soon be known as Pasta Hut. Yes, in an effort to combat sagging pizza sales, Pizza Hut is re-branding itself as Pasta Hut in a high street name change involving a radical overhaul of the restaurant chain's menu and a more wholesome image – less of fat. With the change, pizza will play second fiddle to a range of new pasta dishes to be launched on unsuspecting customers.

The re-branding of the 50 year old US company is designed to attract new customers and move it into more upmarket terrain. Pasta accounts for only about 3 to 4 percent of company sales. Most people will probably think the renaming is absurd and you don't have to be Charles Saatchi to know that the name-change makes little marketing sense. But before you stampede to your nearest branch to protest against their stupidity, there's a caveat. The rebranding is limited to a number of restaurants and is on trial only until the end of the year, at which point customers will be invited to vote on what they think. So the hope for those who value fatty pizza over diet-friendly dishes - and those who think the name change is a brazen publicity stunt is still looming depending on how successful the trial period will be. See, talking about change, not even a reputed, well-founded and world famous restaurant is spared from adopting changes which they think will benefit the fifty year old company.

OBAMA AND CHANGE
"Together, we will change this country and change the world." This was Barack Obama's rallying cry to Americans in the closing days of a campaign which saw him become the first black President of the United States. A politician from whom the world expects great things, Mr. Obama described the election as a "defining moment" for Americans who were looking for "real and lasting change that makes a difference in their lives". His unifying message of hope and change for America, and of a different kind of politics in Washington, saw unprecedented levels of interest in the election and energised millions of people, young and old, black and white, Republicans and Democrats, to vote and have a say in their future.

The promises of "change" had worked quite successfully for Mr. Obama. His message of hope and change comes at a time when many Americans are unhappy with an unpopular war in Iraq, disillusioned with the nation's position in the world, and suffering at home from a global financial crisis. It is so affecting to know that promises of change, not even draft of carefully planned measures can change the lives of one person and an entire nation. Congratulations Mr. Obama. Being the smooth talker and charmer that you are, I just hope that you fulfill and hold on to your high-hopes filled speeches.

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CHANGED ME (Ibahin Niyo Ako)
Ever heard of this? When you don't want to be compared with someone else, you can say, "hello, changed me, ibahin nio ako, hindi ako ganun..". It's another English mistranslation of a Tagalog phrase which by and large, has become another addition to the ever growing funny carabao language. Cono ba tawag don? O anothers churva of the Gay Lingo? Hindi me sigurado? Baka ikaw, alam you ba?

GENERAL CHANGE
Change occurs every seconds of our lives. We change our moods as quickly as the setting sun, we change our preferences with the changing of the seasons and our perceptions of things as we grow older. We change our hairstyle to go with the trend, we change our clothes depending on our new job requirements, we changed our partners as they proved to be disloyal. Change encompasses us because we are alive. To quote Harold Wilson, he said that "he who rejects change is the architect of decay and the only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery".


It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. ~Author unknown, commonly misattributed to Charles Darwin