Change: Good or Bad?

 

We made a recent trip downstate to celebrate our granddaughter’s high school graduation. While there, we encountered a surprising number of changes from the time that we lived there. It seemed our 30 plus years living in that area counted for nothing as we had to find our way to the auditorium where the commencement exercises were held. But before I get into that, here is a little more background information about the High School graduation of our granddaughter Shana.

Shana graduated from Troy High School and we learned several things about her and the school from the numerous speeches given during the commencement. The presentations were given by the school’s teachers and the Troy School Board. Our granddaughter’s class was large–546 graduates. The School Board speaker said Shana’s class was the largest in the nation and the most diverse (referring to the many nationalities represented by the graduates).

Unknown to us before-hand were the awards that were conferred on Shana. Perhaps most important was her scholastic result as she was awarded Summa Cum Laude (given to those who achieved an overall grade average of 4.0.) Her cap and gown were festooned with 4 colorful chords reflecting her achievements.

The graduation ceremony was held at Oakland University since Troy doesn’t have a facility large enough to accommodate the 3,000 attendees at the graduation. We were impressed with the ceremony that Troy mustered for graduating students and their closest family members.

The location of Oakland University was well known to us since Marjorie graduated from the school in 1967. However, the school has grown considerably since then so that finding our way through the neighborhood to the correct building at the sprawling University was problematic. As we wound our way through the campus, our impression was that the school has grown considerably with new buildings, new parking lots, and expansive sports facilities, changes that were all under the banner of “the Golden Grizzlies.” Even the roads around the University seemed different as some were replaced by modern, high speed, multi lane roads that gobbled up the remaining farmlands in the area. Additionally, the old retail stores that we used to frequent have been replaced by big box outlets that seemed to be doing just fine, thank you very much. What we found was that navigation aids we used to use depended upon familiar buildings and parking areas that are now gone or changed considerably, making our transport more difficult. We finally found the site of the auditorium. It seemed to me the school must have a sense of humor (or cruelty) about signs and directions. Adding insult to injury the auditorium was named “The Orena” instead of the more prosaic “The Arena.”

Traffic in the area seemed worse than anything we remembered. The new super highways were nice but the secondary roads had more potholes, more cars, and more drivers who seemed to be in a hurry, changes that were not particularly helpful for out-of-town drivers.

So back to my title for this blog: is change good or bad? In this case of our return to southeast Michigan, I found that I didn’t like the many changes that we encountered in Troy, Michigan. The comparison between Troy’s population of 80,000 people and Roscommon’s 950 people was the most difficult thing for me while I served as the principal driver during our brief 3-day visit.

My general impression is that most people don’t like change. Even small changes like new neighborhoods, new home designs, the latest fashions, new TV programming, new music and other factors of life in the 2025 can affect some people adversely. The internet seems to agree. Here is the first response to my internet search on this topic.

“Whether it is a change at work, such as a new boss or new process, or a personal change, such as a need to exercise to lose weight and improve health, there is a seemingly natural tendency to resist any sort of change.” Psychologists who have studied this resistance to change for decades have arrived at the conclusion that 62% of the population are resistant to change while 38% say that change is not a problem for them.

My experience mirrors this notion. I have a recent example of resistance to change in the case of soft pickleballs. Here is the background: the game of Pickleball grew around the use of hard plastic balls that I knew as “Whiffleballs.” As soon as the game reached a level of respectability, a series of rules were established governing the size, weight, etc. of the balls to be used. The rules established for the balls seemed to work pretty well until recently. The problem was and is, the loud popping noise at every stroke of the paddle. This noise was overlooked by most players and officials until recently. It turns out that the popularity of the game has provoked complaints from those folks who live near a park where pickleball courts are used from early morning until night fall or later. The popping noise from the paddles striking the balls provoked the numerous complaints and led to demands that the noise be eliminated.

The solution to this noise problem has been the development of soft pickleballs that prevent the loud popping noise. The new silent balls are made from a soft foam that behave like the former hard balls in the bounce height and other performance attributes. I decided to check out the new balls at our CRAF pickleball court by purchasing a few balls and introducing them to players at one of our normal play sessions.

I should have predicted the result. Nearly all the players who tried the new balls said they didn’t like them. It was an unwelcome change. Pickleball players seem to be in the 60 % category who don’t want to change from the old balls to the new. I suspect the new balls will ultimately be accepted when enough complaints threaten the continued use of hard balls and players are forced into silent balls. Good ideas often seem to arrive slowly.