Things change.

All of a sudden i have a heightened awareness that each year, month, day, hour, minute is something that i will probably not experience again.

Reflecting on this year, and looking forward to next year, i have realized what a drastically different year it will be. Moving to a different wing, PAship, class presidency, 2 good friends gone in Lithuainia first semester, different roommate (whom i have not yet found), a few good friends graduating and leaving me. My days will look entirely different. My responsibilities will change radically. Its just not going to be the same, at all. Its not necessarily a negative thing, I'm excited for a new start, but i suppose its natural to not want to let go of the things that made this year grand. Its not that one year will, neccessarily, be better than another, just different. A difference that i am rather aware of.

On a more philosophical note, today, in History of Philosophy, we talked about how the shift in language and art around the time of Hegel radically changed the way we saw reality. Whereas art used to be judged by its ability to accurately represent and pictify (through paint, notes, or words) an object, the shift was made to valuing those things that brought experience and personal reflection and into exsistence. The art, the words, were no longer about accuracy concerning the subject, but about experience of the subject. And since then, it has remained. Things will never be the same. Its not that one way of seeing thing is better, or worse, just different. A difference that we need to be aware of.

Similarly, in COS104, two days ago, we talked about technology (go figure). We've been reading 'Technopoly', a book by Neil Postman, whose main goal is to draw awareness to the fact that technology is not neutral, it changes thing, for better and for worse, planned or unplanned, noticed or unnoticed. He uses the example: "If you put television into America in 1946, by 1960 you don't have America just "plus television", but a new kind of America, so that our social relations are altered and our attitudes toward childhood are altered and our political system is altered and we get new meanings of old words and so on. That's not something that's new in culture." Technology changes things. Some things will never be the same. Its not neccesarily better, or worse, just different. A difference that we need to be aware of.

Somehow, change seems to be a trend here. And this is probably why i have this heightened awareness of experiences, thoughts, people, never being the same. I don't think that any of this kind of change is better or worse, some lends itself to either side, but at its core, change is just something we need to be aware of, not wary of, not overly excited about, just aware, cognizant, contemplative, i suppose.