How big is the revolution?

In astronomy, mechanics, or Nascar, it's easy to measure the size of the revolution in question. We needn't even try to think in terms of government or society, for those are entities that are so much larger than ourselves that we can very easily get lost. (Once we have our orientation, however, we can return to these subjects, but for now we'll put that off till later.) But even if we are dealing with just ourselves, just how big a revolution are we talking about?

We humans have the special ability take on a variety of roles simultaneously. We can be parents, children, siblings, bosses, workers, co-workers, friends, lovers, spouses, aunts or uncles, cousins, chairpeople, simple members, co-members, committee members, and who knows what else all at the same time. And what is more, we are fully aware (whenever we think about it at least) of being all these different "people", yet we are still "just ourselves". To deal with this complexity, some of us -- well, a lot of us; perhaps too many of us -- take on the divide-and-conquer approach. We construct our lives into a bunch of different little compartments that we keep diligently separated from each other. We have our "family selves" who are different from our "work selves" or are different from our "free-time selves" and on and on it goes. For those of you who have tried this, you know it really doesn't work. The moment you come home from work and let your frustrations out on the family, you've mixed up the two. It's a nice illusion, and you could start your own revolution but at least dropping this charade.

I have to admit, though, some people are better at this than others. There are people who will maintain the non-interrelatedness of things even when presented with clear, sound evidence to the contrary. These are the people I care about and am concerned about most, and this isn't the first time I mention them. These folks have a particular ability to admit to contradictions without batting an eye. These are people who can have dinosaurs, people, fossils on a 6,000-year-old earth. These are people who can assert that excessive military force is necessary to ensure peace. These are people who think that innocent people who end up being executed simply had bad luck; there's nothing wrong with the system. And there are more of these people than you think. And I'm sure that most of you don't think I'm talking to you anyway. But think again ... just to be sure.

The reason why I'm most concerned about these people is two-fold: on the one hand, they'll just put this change-yourself/revolution thing in just another box; and on the other hand, deep down, we both know that the reason they do this is because they are afraid. Terribly afraid. Deathly afraid. They make a good, sound, brave impression on most of us, but at heart, they're shaking in their boots. They are afraid that if they make the slightest change to anything about themselves, their entire world can come crashing down upon their heads. And that could in fact be.

But maybe it is otherwise.