Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “The Old Order Changed, Yielding Place To New” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

“The Old Order Changed, Yielding Place To New”

Change in all things is sweet, says a Greek proverb; and there is nothing permanent except change, says another. Change is the law of nature. The crust of the earth, the surface of the sea, the face of the sky are all undergoing daily and hourly changes. The rotation of the earth on its axis, the revolution of the earth resulting in change of seasons, the ebb and flow of the tides are positive proofs of the perpetual change going on in the universe. Our bodies, too, are undergoing continual change. Indeed, it seems change is one of the conditions of our very existence.

Change may be slow and silent; it may be swift and staggering but it is always incessant and all-pervading. Such is the law of nature; and it is, therefore, easy to understand why human life, too, should be subject to the same law. Not only do our bodies change, not only does our hair turn grey, but our ideas and thoughts, feelings and sentiments also change with changes in our surroundings. Our habits change, our manners change with changes in our surroundings. Our behaviour changes so does our outlook and even love which is designed and designated as constant, “alters when it alteration finds”. What is constant ? What is fixed where everything is in a state of flux ?

The peculiar fact is that old systems, conventions and traditions which once had their day, are thrown into oblivion with the passage of time and new laws, systems and traditions come to occupy their place. Man builds social institutions, religious laws and literary conventions, and strives to put upon them stamp of permanency. But to his utter dismay and disillusionment, the strong edifice reared by him with great industry and labour soon begins to creak and the structure topples down into dust in the course of time. Again, a new structure is raised, and this again crumbles down making room for another; structures are thus raised on the debris of the older ones, institutions are heaped on institutions, and the world is strewn with the wrecks of past human efforts and the monuments of new endeavours. Such is the story of man’s advance from one change to another; and old things give place to new.

Social institutions undergo a change; old customs become obsolete; fashions are always in a state of flux; a particular type of marriage is discarded; a certain system of education is thrown overboard. This continuous change is not only inevitable but is also highly beneficial. Every new feature in the condition of our existence gives a new stimulus to human endeavour; man has to. devise new ways of living to suit the altered conditions of life. It is in this way that necessity becomes the mother of invention; and where we cannot invent, we can at least innovate.

We may take up the case of agricultural and industrial life; the enterprise of economic development is a very interesting story of change from the old ways of production to the new ones. A few centuries back agriculture and handicrafts were the backbone of our national economy; and cottage industries provided all our needs. The system of production was not much advanced but the old system went overboard with the introduction of the Industrial Revolution. The old system of producing goods on small scale through manual labour was replaced by machine productions; factories fitted with giant machines were installed; in place of wind and water, coal and electricity began to be used as source of power.

Even in agriculture, the old methods of ploughing and cultivating the land are being given up; tractors and chemical fertilizers are being brought more and more in use and Green Revolution is the order of the day. All this is the result of change. Even the fields of politics and political life, are not free from change. Imperialism has lost all its charm and monarchy has become a thing of the past. The days of colonialism are gone; during the present century empire-building has received a set-back and the edifice of colonialism has crumbled without any hope of resurgence in the future; almost all the countries of the world are now enjoying freedom and the number of such countries in the UNO has increased from 50 to 190. There was a time when dictatorship was in favour among nations but political thinkers today are restless to establish democracy everywhere, when democratic set-up does not suit the vested interests of a powerful few, oligarchy begins to play its role. If League of Nations dies, United Nations Organization springs up. If Republicans are defeated, Democrats take up the reigns of administration in a country; if Congress is no longer needed; Janata Party forms the government and vice versa. Democracy or no democracy, no Government continues for long. Progressive politicians the world over pin their hopes in the conception of ‘one world’ to eradicate many prevalent evils. What we witness is change; and change is the order of the day.

But a change may be for good or bad. If a desire for change originates from a sort of divine discontent with our present lot, it has tendency to run to excess. It breeds in minds a passion for change for the sake of mere change; there is nothing more harmful than this morbid desire. There must first be an evil to remedy, an ‘ abuse to reform, a real demand for a new or modified state of affairs before any change can have beneficial consequences or be productive of lasting good. No evils are more tormenting than imaginary ones, and no state of mind is more pitiable than grieving over the fancied wrongs; it is here that a contemplated change may alter the situation for worse.

Of course, the advantages of a healthy change in the old order are unquestionable; but there are certain disadvantages also associated with change, which though not directly springing from it, are nevertheless its indirect consequences. These disadvantages are really of the nature of difficulties; and the first of these difficulties is the difficulty of suiting the change to the time and the time to the change; such a difficult has always been the hardest problem both of legislative and social reforms. The question, of some much-needed change, has always been the main question of public administration and domestic management. Change at its proper time and place is the best.

It is rather unfortunate that in our country, at present a good deal of harmful tendency for change is an evidence. A class of so-called politicians seems to have made it their business to indulge in imaginary grievances and cry’ for reforms in every sphere of life. In everything they behold, they see nothing but need for reform; they are dissatisfied with everything and everybody. If it is the fashion, then it is a bad fashion; if it is the practice, then it is a bad practice; if they really feel that way, then something is inherently wrong with them and not with the things around them. Granted that a change for the better is always welcome but who can transform the entire fabric of Indian life overnight ? Progress needs its own time; and overnight change can be the forte of only foolhardiness.

Yet everything witnesses change. The two points of practical wisdom are, first, to be content with a little change possible at a time and secondly, to preserve, as much as possible, the source of change. That a thing is new does not of course commend; that it is old does not discredit. Two principles govern the world : one is perpetual change; the other necessary limitation to that change. The best ages of the world are those in which these two principles are the most equally balanced. Thus, from whatever angle we look at our life or world, one thing is sure that “the old order changeth, yielding place to new”.

“Total freedom from change would imply total freedom from error; but that is the prerogative of omniscience alone,” said Colton. So, we say, nothing is stationary in this world, nothing is constant, nothing endures, nothing lasts. History fades into fables; fact becomes clouded with doubt and controversy; the inscriptions moulder from the tablet; the statue falls from the pedestal—what are they but heaps of sand, and their epitaphs but characters written in the dust ?”, said Washington Irving. We should be sure that in this world of change naught which comes stays, and naught which is good is lost.