Major Changes Always Take Time

When I was in my twenties, I knew that I did not want to be like my father.  Although he was a very smart man, with good intentions, he had an explosive temper that undermined his efforts to be successful.  I intended to be different, but was not sure how.

Eventually, upon the advice of the college professor I considered my mentor, I entered psychotherapy.  For the next six years, I struggled to remake myself.  Even after this, however, I remained a work in progress.  Indeed, I am still laboring to become the person I hope to be.

Personal change, I learned, is difficult to come by.  Our emotions, many of which are unconscious, often sabotage our efforts.  Deeply embedded fears and intemperate anger prevent us from letting go of the past and moving on to something better.

Nowadays, as a professor of sociology, I teach about social change.  I try to help students understand how this occurs and why it is more difficult than they suppose.  As idealists, these young folks typically want immediate reforms.  Acutely aware of some of what has gone wrong, they see no reason why it should persist.

In this, they are not alone.  The public at large regularly demands instantaneous action.  When politicians promise dramatic changes, they clamor for even greater ones.  Why should they settle for half a loaf when the whole loaf would be so much better?

And so what do we get?  If we are lucky, we get a few crumbs.  Obama, for instance, was going to remake Washington.  But did this happen?  He was also going to bring the nation together.  In fact, we are now further apart than we were when he became president.

When these sorts of thing happen, we blame the politicians.  We accuse them of failing to keep their promises.  Thus, if we are Democrats, we rail at the conservatism of the Republicans.  Or, if we are Republicans, we blame the irresponsibility of the liberals.  Seldom, however, do we blame ourselves.

Yet this is where a substantial portion of the onus lies.  If we did not assume that extraordinary changes can occur almost overnight, we would not demand them.  If we were not convinced these were possible, we would not be disappointed when they do not arrive on schedule.

Nonetheless, big changes always take place slowly.  They are evolutionary rather than revolutionary.  Although small changes are possible in the short run, major ones take decades, centuries and sometimes millennia to be realized.

And why not?  If personal changes are hard to implement, why would social changes be less difficult?  If individuals can take years to remake who they are, why would millions of individuals require less time?  Is it because millions of people are less emotional than a single person? 

Consider the Black Lives Matter movement.  Its advocates insist on an immediate overhaul of every police department.  But how probable is this?  They also want racism to disappear instantaneously.  Yet is this in the cards?  These activists may be angry, but can anger redo the world?

Not only is what they demand impossible to provide on their timetable, but the way they demand it alienates many people.  When folks feel attacked, they get their backs up.  Instead of doing what is asked, they do the opposite.  If so, change is slowed down rather than accelerated.

Similar considerations apply to educational and health reforms.  Thus, has Obamacare worked? Or has the common core improved achievement scores?  Likewise, did Head Start enable minority student to catch up with the majority?  You know the answers.

So why do we keep expecting miracles?  Is it because our current situation is so intolerable that we cannot stand it for another minute?  Or have we become spoiled children who want what we want when we want it?

Sometimes life is hard.  Sometimes we must work for what we get—even if we wish things were different.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University