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The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.


To the memory of Fanny... Rescued headstones, St Davids Park, Hobart. January 2012.

Theme Thursday and we are talking about CHANGE. I could talk about the CHANGE from 2011 into 2012, but aside from the number ‘2’, what has CHANGEd?

No, CHANGE is more subtle than that. CHANGE is inexorable, inevitable and inescapable. Like that boulder in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (only in real life you’d be scraping Indy up with a trowel and sending him home in a jar).

Take the case of the loving memory of Fanny [see picture above].

You can be guaranteed that when they planted poor Fanny in the ground, there was a suitably somber atmosphere with nary a snigger, snicker or titter at the back. Fast-forward 136 years and you write TO THE MEMORY OF FANNY on a wall and you would raise more than a few eyebrows.

All because the meanings of words CHANGE. Words themselves CHANGE. Fanny used to mean one thing, and now it means something quite different.

When it comes to CHANGE it seems that we need to accept CHANGE. There is little point in fighting CHANGE, but some rationale in shaping CHANGE. Nudging CHANGE, influencing CHANGE and choosing which CHANGE to embrace and which to defy.

Whatever the case, fair play to Fanny.
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Comments

Brian Miller said…
fanny would def want a name change these days...though i do know a guy named richard dick...dick dick...yeah mom thanks for that one...
5 January 2012 at 14:37
Roddy said…
These words will last forever when carved in stone. Yeah, right!
5 January 2012 at 19:59
Anonymous said…
Accepting change makes me think of the Serenity Prayer. Fanny is a good example. Different types of love for different times in our lives, I suppose. Never heard of "Rescued Graves." Thanks!
5 January 2012 at 21:12
Mrsupole said…
Yup, you made me LOL again. Fanny would definitely be proud that we are thinking of her 136 years after leaving our planet.

I think the place where words have had the most change is in the computer world. And I think we have also had to add a lot of new words to describe things not yet invented. I think words are a never ending cycle for change and growth. Great post to make us think of that. Geez, didn't post use to mean a piece of wood meant to hold something.

Thanks for sharing some change with us for this weeks Theme Thursday.

God bless.
5 January 2012 at 22:28
Maxwell Mead Williams Robinson Barry said…
great concept on change,
thanks for the sample.
6 January 2012 at 01:57
Anonymous said…
It is indeed amazing how innocuous a word is to one person, society or culture is misconstrued by others. Fanny would be amazed, I am sure, by the events around her name in the future.

Nice concept for the prompt!!
6 January 2012 at 04:30
Scarlet said…
Interesting take...I do agree on the inevitability of change, one way or the other.

Nice to meet you at TT ~
6 January 2012 at 11:31
Mary said…
Names are interesting. What would not cause someone to bat an eye a generation ago makes people chuckle today. I once knew a person with the last name of "Fuchs." Now that is a name I would have changed.
7 January 2012 at 12:41
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