Spare change?

By Jorim-Paul Phillips 27 June 2017, 12:00AM

Change is inevitable. It is encouraged, but often unwanted.  

You may embrace it or you may hate it, but the fact still remains that you have to and will continue to undergo the wonders of change. 

Whether it is the petrifying period of life called puberty, or the moment you get that well-earned promotion, change will end up finding you. 

If you think that your life is good the way it is and that change is unnecessary, you will be surprised to find out how much “change” actually occurs in your life on a daily basis! 

For example, in the morning, one of the first things you do is change your clothes, during lunch, you may change your mind several times in regards to your choice of food depending on what you feel like eating. You can choose the route that will take you home, you can choose your friends, you can choose your style, you can choose, choose, choose! 

You might say, “Well, those are just little things that don’t matter, it doesn’t affect my life in a big way”, to that I would respectfully say that you are wrong. Life is made up of the many small choices that we make every minute, and every small choice has the potential to change our lives dramatically. 

If you were heading home after a long day of hard work, you would probably be able to take many routes. 

Now imagine that one of those routes had a drunk driver speeding through its streets and the others were all safe and clear. The choice that you make in regards to the road that you take could ultimately change your life. 

You could, end up losing your ability to walk or even worse you could die, or on the other hand, you could also get home in little time, safely.  Even though we do not consider these small choices seriously and in depth, they all have a hand in changing our lives. 

Your words can also create change. They can, much like a sword, smite your opponent down into the dirt, or you can use it to bring victory to your kingdom. Please excuse the overused line but what I am saying is true. 

If you told a random stranger (for absolutely no reason) that they are beautiful or handsome and you genuinely meant it, their whole day would be changed and they would walk away happy. 

A lot of times, teenagers use words to bring down or belittle someone. This has a serious consequence and should not be accepted. Many teenagers (and even adults) go through depression because of the things that some people say to them. 

They may get told that they are worthless, stupid, the scum of the earth, and many more vulgar things that I would not dare to name, causing them to leave sad and heartbroken, and eventually suicide becomes an option. Whether or not this is the case (and if so, I highly recommend talking to someone because suicide is not the way), whether they spend their day happy simply knowing that they are loved; your words create either life or death.

We as a nation have also undergone a lot of change over the past one hundred years. This change has had both positive effects and negative effects on not only Samoa as a whole, but on every individual that resides in this beautiful nation. Health care has gotten better but the state of our ocean is getting worse. More Samoans are migrating overseas and more foreigners are settling here. 

The Samoan culture and way of life is getting lost amongst the youth, but on the other hand, the modernization and the westernizing of Samoa is improving the quality of life. Despite all these ‘alterations’ in society, the fact still remains that when change comes we will stand together and make the best out of it.

So in the end, whether its puberty or promotion, kind words or careless actions, change is inevitable. And because of this, you need to roll with the punches, fight through the fire and when it comes, you can work your way through it.

By Jorim-Paul Phillips 27 June 2017, 12:00AM

Trending Stories

Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>