Comparison

Things change. This is an unavoidable fact of life. However, we may not notice that things are changing, so long as the change takes place in a slow and small enough manner. It is only when a significantly large shift occurs that we take notice, or there has been a sufficient divergence from the original that it registers in our minds.

Last week, I had to drive either to or from MATC under less-than-ideal circumstances. On Monday, there was a traffic jam stretching from Cottage Grove to Lake Mills. By the time we were passing the rest stop, things were starting to pick up again, and we were nearly at regular speed at Johnson Creek. (I have no idea what caused the traffic jam to occur: I was stuck behind a semi, so my visibility was limited; I didn't see any law enforcement vehicles, emergency medical vehicles, or towing vehicles; there were no smashed-up vehicles (or smashed-up animals, for that matter) off on the side of the road. It is most likely that the source of the jam originated from the Johnson Creek area, or further along, and we were experiencing the ripples that the original event created.)

On all the other days, I had to deal with rain, either in the morning or afternoon. The fact that in the mornings, the sun was not yet up meant that visibility was doubly limited. It's hard enough seeing anything when it's dark OR when it's raining, but when it's dark AND raining, driving takes on a new level of complexity.

I have spent today trying to adjust to my latest pair of glasses. My eye prescription had changed sufficiently enough to prompt this, coupled with the fact that my previous glasses were almost eight years old and showing their age, and it was time for a change. The change is somewhat jarring - not a lot, but some. Things are now in sharper focus than what I had grown used to. The distortion (or lack thereof) requires me to carefully acclimate myself to my newfound vision.

Things change, and there's a word for what happens to those who don't or can't learn to change along with them: extinction.