This world has changed so rapidly, without most of us even bothering to notice. Many politicians are involving the word “;change”; to make them appear as positive difference makers.

Barack Obama's slogan of “;change we can believe in”; has gotten many people's attention, because the majority of us want a new and better life. Change can be a good thing and a bad thing, depending on the situation. Without change we would never be able to adapt and we would still be stuck as “;savage apes”; (some of us - I won't name names - haven't evolved too much from this.) If not for change, we would still be living in a monarchy and not under kleptocratic mob rule - oops, I mean “;democracy.”; It is good to change your clothes every day, but I interpret Obama's “;change”; to be different from this meaning (who knows?). So, higher taxes would be a change, by harming the economy and those who are already struggling to make ends meet. Getting a “;much-needed transit”; system would be a huge change for the kamaaina and aina - if by “;change”; you mean higher taxes and make-work jobs.

We are rapidly changing our lifestyle into a way that involves us losing our rights (the majority of our politicians still insist that they are much smarter than us and know better how we should live our personal lives.) Some changes that I think could actually benefit us are more funding toward public and charter schools (after all we will be the rulers of the world someday). Also having more privately owned companies and having the government take less control over personal lives, like what gender you can marry and if an individual using plastic bags will actually “;kill”; our planet.

What amazes me is how teenage lifestyles have changed. My dad tells me about his childhood, so so so (OK, I'll stop with the exaggeration, Dad) long ago. He tells me about how when growing up there were only a few shows he could watch on TV, like “;Bugs Bunny”; and how he watched it on a tiny little black and white box, and only on Saturday mornings (how did he survive? Oh, the agony!). Now we have changed into the “;technology age,”; where people are constantly on cell phones, texting friends in class (”;Aly,”; I am talking about you) or on computers.

The majority of my classmates don't pay attention to the news, much less actually care what is going on in society. Don't get me wrong, I think it is positive how we have changed into a society where we can use technology to our benefit. My dad tells me how in school all he used was paper and pencils, now we have to use organizational binders and planners with special journals for each class. As far as I am concerned all you need is paper, pencils and an open mind, but my teachers insist that those binders will make us “;better”; people.

Naturally, as humans, we will always be changing and adapting to better fit our lifestyle. I can only imagine what all the changes will do to this beautiful island - more houses, a noisy rail, more homeless (mainly because of higher taxes, no doubt), polluted beaches and more traffic congestion. Well, at least I can look forward to cooler cell phones.