While watching people at a local Starbucks in downtown Santa Cruz, I realized one of many things: people take to change, that is negative change, harder than I would have thought. They don’t just accept it and let it be apart of their lives; they struggle against it, finding any such way in which they can return to their normal daily life.

A man and a woman were sitting at a bench across the street from me, far enough away where I couldn’t hear what they were saying, only make guesses through their actions. The woman says something to the man and all of a sudden the man looks upset. They originally were sitting near each other, but the woman would slowly scoot away, while the man followed her. After saying a few more, understanding words, the woman stood up, stared at the man, and then walked away down the street. He looked around, confused on what to do. I could only guess he had not been in this situation before when he stood up and chased after the woman. By now, they were too far away for me to depict what was going on.

At first, this just seemed like some everyday break-up between a couple. But after observing one other situation, I had my realization about life and change.

While inside the Starbucks, I saw a little boy with his mother waiting in line to buy a cup of coffee and a hot chocolate. The mom needed to “attend the ladies room” and, not wanting to lose her spot in line, gave her son a ten dollar bill and a set of directions as to what he would do once at the front of this line. The son wasn’t too confident with his memory of these directions. The mom walked away and disappeared behind the women’s bathroom door. The boy stood there, looking around at everything, even making eye contact with me at one point. For just standing in line, he seemed genuinely uncomfortable and a bit scared. Two people stood between him and the menacing cashier. Luckily, his mother walked out just in time and was able to order for the both of them with the ten-dollar bill she had originally given him. As soon as the mom walked up to the boy, he grabbed her hand in one fluid motion. The cashier smiled at her, then the little boy who, in return, smiled back at him.

Although the little boy being very uncomfortable in line alone could have just been an account of a child wanting his mom, I believe it was something more than that. And the man chasing after the woman, possibly to apologize, could have been an account of one person needing another in order to continue through their daily life, but again I believe it is something more.

Every human being has created his or her general way to live. For example, one might wake up, take a shower, eat their breakfast, head to work or school, come home in traffic, and fall asleep after watching an hour or two of television. But once one small ripple in this pool of life is added, it screws up the whole routine. This is what went wrong with the man and the little boy. They were so used to being with the woman that they loved, that they weren’t ready for the little things that can change their lives.

For the little boy, he is used to being with either his mom or dad. But once that familiar character is taken away, even just to use the public bathroom, the boy feels very uncomfortable. He still isn’t used to independency, therefore causing him to hate the thought of being alone.

For the man, he has most likely been with that woman for some time. He has lived his life along side her, and come to love her. But once she leaves the position of lover, the man’s life shatters, throwing him into a state of not knowing what to do. His first thought was to chase after the woman and return things to how they once were.

Although situations may not be as extreme as a break-up or as subtle as being alone for a few long minutes, the human mind isn’t used to change. It is incapable of accepting this negative change right away. This causes people to do what they can to revert things to its original state, making everything seem better. But this can’t always happen. People must learn to adapt to change at the snap of a finger. This would allow them to reform their daily lives into one they enjoy living, and the world continues to spin round and round.