Rockin' Some Bobby D

I was mowing the yard this morning, listening to my iPod. A Bob Dylan song came on; and it hit me: the craziness of being able to load any song I can get my hands on onto my music device is really, well crazy. Sure, in our day and age, being able to download songs onto iTunes is really not that big of a deal. But not that many years ago, I would have had to have gone to great lengths to be able to get my hands on a Bob Dylan album.

I can remember when Music Phone started (at least I think that's what its name was). You could call a number and preview any album, to potentially purchase it. So my friends and I would call up Music Phone and listen to random artists that we had always wondered about. I can remember listening to Peter Frampton because I had always seen him on late-night infomercials and had wondered exactly what his music sounded like. The idea of Music Phone was amazing. Today, it's ancient and, in a way, silly.

The world really is changing before our eyes. I have heard it said that the world has changed (technologically, etc.) more in the last 15-20 years than it had for hundreds of years before that, due largely to the internet. I cannot say for sure if that is entirely correct. But there's definitely something to it. One really has to stay on top of the ever-changing world of technology, computers, and social media, lest they be left behind.

For some, that is a call to be afraid, to fear what's coming around the corner and their ability to stay up with the times. But I think we would do well to look at changes for what they are: simply changes. Change is inevitable. And if viewed wholistically and with optimism, change can be positive and enriching. We can't stop change, even if we wanted to. So we might as well expect it and embrace it.

As Bob Dylan said, "The times, they are a changing."