"Change" Is Not Synonym of "Improvement"

Sure there is a Pop Star (who just so happened to have butchered one of the greatest songs of all-time) who tells us "A Change Will Do You Good." And let's be honest, the change of Jim Zorn and Bruce Boudreau from Joe Gibbs and Glen Hanlon respectively has gone better than anybody could have reasonably expected.

Sometimes, change however yields a "so-so" result. Such as when Manny Acta took over the Washington Nationals from Frank Robinson. Sure, Acta took the team further in 2007 than Frank would have, but would Frank have allowed the multiple losing streaks that marred the 2008 season to occur? We seriously doubt it.

However, oftentimes change can also be a very, very bad thing. Who wants to argue that firing Ron Wilson in favor of Bruce Cassidy (and the Sundance Kid) was a good change for the Caps? What about the trade for Jaromir Jagr? That was certainly a change that brought a lot of hope to Washington D.C. but didn't turn out nearly as well as anybody thought it would. Certain folks might try to spin that one as a vital action that led to A.O. ending up in D.C., but that's a far stretch to make. Or how about Marty Schottenheimer being replaced by Steve Spurrier? Or better yet, Dan Snyder taking over the Redskins from the Cooke family?

The point of this is that change for the sake of change is a very, very bad idea. Thomas Sowell recently pointed out that many different politicians and leaders have promised change during their rise to power. And while such individuals like Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and even Adolf Hitler did provide change from the regimes they replaced once in power; we don't think it was the type of change they or the rest of the world was looking for despite many fanatical folks believing in it (some even to this day). Because very often when bad times hit, people tend to think, "it can't get much worse" when in reality, as this quick little history lesson just showed us, it can; especially when some are insisting on repeating history.

So folks, all we have to say today is that when you head out to make your choices, believe that change for the sake of change doesn't always bring about what you are hoping for.