The Times They are a-changin'

The Virginian-Pilot Sunday Forum, August 3, 2014.


FIFTY YEARS ago Bob Dylan recorded what for many became the standard for the turbulent ’60s. 

Most of the politicians he sang about are gone now. So are most of the parents. He was right: “The times, they [were] a changin’.”

The young people he sang to have become today’s politicians, parents and grandparents. 

Back then, as teens, we were looking to the future and telling our leaders and parents that if they couldn’t do the same, they should “get out of the way, don’t block up the road.” Today, we’re the ones looking over our shoulder.

And just like our parents and leaders then, we aren’t comfortable in a changing world. I talk to people all the time who say they don’t care anymore. They’ve given up on their leaders, their country and everything in between. They don’t vote because “they’re all crooks.”

For this I blame the leaders who use today’s problems for their own gain. They claim to offer solutions, but their actions are more indicative of people who like the status quo and their position in it. Politicians talk about the failure of government. Statesmen talk about what government can do. 

“Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall” could easily be the message to many of today’s politicians.

They thrive on negativity to the point where scaring people about a problem becomes more important than fixing it. Many of their constituents seem to thrive on this, seemingly almost waiting, almost hoping, for the next scare to come down the road.

Uneasiness about where everything is going is unavoidable, probably even healthy, as long as it doesn’t cause us to look backwards or think the past can be reclaimed. Never in history have things gone backwards.

So where are things going?

They’re going to be different.

In 1800, there were one billion people on Earth. It took 160 years to grow to 3 billion. In 10 years it will be 8 billion. The resources available to satisfy this population growth will become scarcer — less oil, less clean water, less food. But there will be different fuels, innovative ways of providing water and better ways of growing crops. Amusement parks will be even more amusing.

Boundaries will change and society will change, but that has always been the case. There were probably some Romans who really hated to see the empire end, but there are still people living in Rome. Change is change. It’s not the end of the world.

We don’t have to solve all these problems at once. And we don’t have to solve problems we don’t know about and shouldn’t be worrying about. We have to do only what we can do now. But we should always be moving forward.

We cannot allow politicians and agitators, motivated only by their personal ambitions, to convince us our governments and institutions are collapsing before us, and that nothing can be done to fix them. We shouldn’t allow the money of a few to quiet the voices of the many.

We must vote every time we have an opportunity — and not only vote but take the time to look past the 30-second commercial to see what our leaders really stand for. We must determine whether candidates are asking us to vote for something or only against something — offering solutions or only fear mongering.

If we do not stay active, if we do not focus on the future, we run the risk of fulfilling another song from that 1964 release. We run the risk of becoming “Only a pawn in their game.”

Phil Terrana, author of "Postal Service, a novel" and "Hell on Earth, a love story," lives in Virginia Beach.