Quatrain #18: Vicissitudes

The word vicissitudes was a stunning find unto itself using a trusty, old thesaurus, and it immediately struck me as being the perfect integration of language to this visual. I like to use "expensive words," as one of my kids' language arts teachers describes it. She conditions her students to practice writing and editing with compelling adjectives — instead of saying good, say marvelous — and I concur. I mean really, when's the last time you used the word vicissitude? Certainly, I haven't until now, and that's going to change.

I made a post a few weeks ago about change and the idea of it being such a normal aspect of our day-to-day, high-technology existence. That was a professional rant, but this one is from a more personal place. Let's face it. Change can be highly charged with the idea of unfamiliarity, and straight-up fear of the unknown depending on the situation. Having said that, it makes me reflect on how I've seen others deal with change, and then even, how I deal with it. Somehow, I have this naïve idea that most people simply accept change and move forward without hesitation or disruption to their life flow. They are liberated by change. Then there are others that I've known, who grew up through the [1st] Great Depression for instance, that would become practically immobilized by change, because change caused them such great stress, anxiety, and hardship. That, by the way, is called misoneism — a hatred or dislike of what is new or represents change.

Everything in moderation, I guess.