Strands

Each strand—separate and slender—the woof and waft of a tapestry. Move one thread and the picture alters. It may be that the colors shift, the hues no longer mesh, or the absence changes how we perceive the whole.

When someone perceives another in a specific way and the other alters some aspect, we react to the difference. I once had a friend who licked envelopes for every liberal candidate. She walked in demonstrations for the most liberal positions. Then one day everything I thought she espoused changed. I didn't know this person and found it difficult to blend her new positions—taken with a passion—with the old person. Her reasons, so clear to her, stumped me. Her response to why, clear to her, sounded muddled to me.

Sometimes change isn't sudden—it only appears that way.