Changes

Phil Ochs, one of the most gifted singer/songwriters of his generation (and there were a lot of them in the 1960s), was so overwhelmed by changes that he took his own life. But before he did, he wrote a beautiful song about them - simply titled "Changes."

As the sign suggests, computers frequently offer do-overs, especially for writers. Regardless of what we write, I think most writers would agree that we spend a lot of time editing what we've written, which imposes a useful discipline on us when we engage in other forms of communication (especially text messages), where there's never a prompt to reconsider what we've just so heatedly typed, either for content or style.  Especially for content. 

But life never offers us the chance to delete the changes we've made during the day. We give them a certain amount of thought in the moment, when we make them, or as we decide whether to do or not to do something. But then they're done. And we move on, with the consequences of the changes we've made.   

I honestly don't know why I'm waxing philosophical about changes today. I haven't undergone any significant transitions lately, other than creating my own website - which has allowed me some space and motivation to be writing more frequently. But as to a specific reason, I think it's probably the sign in the photograph. Sometimes, images just jump off the page at me, grab hold and stay around. That's what this one did to me. But it also brought Phil Ochs back to mind, and I wanted to be sure that people who read my writing and are not familiar with his music get to hear his "Changes."

This one's for you, Phil.