Change – not all it’s cracked up to be
One of the many things that makes society increasingly hostile to autistic people is the current obsession with change.
The advertising industry ensures people are maintained in a state of dissatisfaction resulting in constant desire for new products and services. Most employers also change people’s job roles and terms and conditions resulting in insecurity. And worse of all those dependant on renting their home are likely to face constant insecurity and threat of having to move.
And even if you don’t have to move there’s the constant threat of new neighbours making changes to the local environment and making lots of noise. Previously subdued street lighting is regularly “upgraded” to bright white light. There are more and more people and traffic, quiet places are replaced with noisy places and so on.
Dealing with change is not something autistic people are generally good at. Even changing clothes can be a challenge, let alone adapting to a constantly changing and ever noisier, smellier, overcrowded and more brightly-lit environment.
Fortunately God never changes.
“For I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
That gives a bit of confidence to realise that change isn’t the wonderful and inevitable thing that people are brainwashed into believing it is. In fact, until recently most people resisted change. Ways of life all over the world would be vigorously defended and maintained.
Whether we go in for a state of constant change, and all the insecurity and mental health problems it brings, is a matter of choice. There is currently an excessive amount of change because the people calling the shots ensure there is lots of change. Such a situation is unhealthy and out of tune with God, who is all about bringing order from chaos, not the other way around. That is what the creation story in the first book of the Bible (Genesis Chapter 1) is about.