W.M. Kiplinger.曾言：「時間分秒在變。生活與工作中的大部份是在搶先機，尋求改變，並找出成就改變的方法。」

　　踏入羊年，儘管我們又多了一歲，但智慧上卻有所長進。在過去的一年，我們遺下甚麼？在即將來臨的一年，又有甚麼正等待我們？肯定的是，當中會有些變化，即使我們無意或無計劃去改變任何事情，改變仍然存在，莫論我們的存在與不存在，時間都在改變。

　　還記得第一部面世的手提電話嗎？大概有12英寸長、笨重，而且索價不菲。手執一部走在大街小巷上是身份的象徵。接著面世的是在90年代早期推出的天地線 CT2，沒有電線繫絆，但只可以在特定的地點撥出電話，並未能接聽來電，以致傳呼機成為當時的必需品，陪我們走過漫漫長路。時至今日，新產品推出後很快便被另一款新品追過，在功能上愈見無所不能，假如將來有一部可以沖咖啡的電話亦不足為奇。

　　曾經，當美國人享受財富時，中國人是貧窮的，因此，根深柢固下，縱管多個州份已陷入破產的困境，美國人仍認為他們比較優勝。截至2014年11月，美國對中國的債務已達1.25萬億美元。「日本製造」曾是「優質」的保證，可是因出現問題而回收的車量數目達50萬架，此外，因飛機燃油蝕漏及玻璃破裂問題而取消訂購的飛機，價值上十億元；專為糖尿病患者而設的神藥SGLT2在導致110人死亡後被停售；2011年福島核事故的善後工作草率了事，成噸計的變形魚、異變蔬菜遍佈日本。的確，時代已變了。

　　找媒人、先性後愛、墮胎、女人做主動、尋找人生教練曾經會招人話柄，這些不該觸及的，甚少公開地討論的議題。時至今日，我們除了透過媒人找伴，更會參與極速約會，使用應用程式找伴，以及借助各種數碼渠道調情，濫情早成常態，墮胎已合法化，女性不只主動追求男性，有些更會視男人為自己的獵物，人生教練亦成為一盤愈漸成熟的生意。的確，我們在尋找及表達自我已走了一段很長的路。

　　交通及商貿使世界變得細小、容易觸及、方便連繫。互聯網使我們的世界變得更小，事物即時又緊密互通。變化不只是不能避免的，它更在我們的身上快速及激烈地前行，戰線延至政治、經濟、文化、傳統，甚至是我們的思維方式上。我們既不能反抗，又不可無條件地接受變改，面對此挑戰時，我們要依隨時代的洪流作調整，並堅守那些不能動搖的原則。

　　改變有自願的，也有不自願的。非自願的通常是無聲無色的改變，循序漸進，衰老或退化的健康就是一例；改變亦可以是強勢降臨，出現令人歡喜若狂的驚喜或帶來一場災難性的悲劇。不過，無論改變是如何前來，影響人生下一步的並不是改變的本身，而是你用來應對它的力量。

　　自願作出的改變需要決心與勇氣，最常見的就是離開自己的安全帶，踏上新的道路。可以是跟伴侶分手，放下一段泛味但舒適的關係，或離開沉悶但安定的工作岡位，或搬離一個宜人但缺乏生氣的環境，又可以是任何阻礙我們繼續前進，完成夢想的人和事。改變可微小至控制我們的壞脾氣，學習包容與仁慈，讓自己成為一個更好的人，開發自己所有的潛能。

　　藉著以下的一句名言，我在此祝各位經濟通的讀者過一個豐盛的羊年。

　　Rumi說：「昨天的我是聰明的，因此我想改變世界；今天的我是睿智的，故我正改變自己。」

　　（按：中文內容乃翻譯及撮寫版本）

Changing Times  

　　“ The times will always be changing. Much of life and work consists of looking for the changes in advance and figuring out what to do about them.”  W.M. Kiplinger.

　　Embarking on the Year of the Goat, we are all another year wiser, albeit another year older. What have we left behind in the year past and what awaits us in the year to come? For certain there were changes and there will be changes even if we didn’t change anything nor plan to change anything....cause times change, with or without us.

　　Remember the first mobile phone? probably 12 inches long, clunky, heavy and cost a fortune… People would walk around town with this chunk in the hand, proud to have one at all. Then came the Teen Day Seen CT2, a cordless telephone in the early 1990s which  could only dial out from specific locations but cannot take incoming calls, making a simultaneous pager necessary… We’ve come a long way since. Today, every new model is ensued by another newer model, with functions more omnipotent than the first… wouldn’t be surprised if the next one also makes coffee..

　　There was a time when Americans were wealthy and we Chinese were  poor.  So ingrained has been this mentality that they  still consider themselves superior when many of their States are now bankrupt . As of Nov 2014, the US debt to China stood at USD 1.25 trillion. “Made in Japan” used to mean “impeccable quality”. They have since recalled half a million cars... and their aircrafts’ oil leakage and cracking glass led to billion dollar cancellations.  Their wonder drug SGLT2 for diabetes has been suspended after causing 110 deaths. The clean up job of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was so sloppily done that  tons of deformed fishes and mutant vegetables are surfacing everywhere in Japan… Indeed, times have changed.

　　There was a time when going to the matchmakers, sex before marriage, abortion, a woman courting a man, seeing a counselor were matters  people would react with raising eyebrows, matters one should not discuss, much less in the open. Today, apart from matchmakers, we have speed dating, online apps and digital flirts… promiscuity has become rampant, abortion has become legal, and women do not just court men, some pounce on them like cougars on preys, and counseling has become a full fledged business. Indeed we have come a long way in finding & expressing ourselves.

　　Transportation and trade have made the world smaller, accessible and connected. The internet has rendered the world minuscule, instant and interrelated. Changes are not only inevitable, they are descending upon us fast and furious, attacking on all fronts – political,  economical, cultural, traditional, even our  thinking patterns. Since we can neither resist nor accept all changes unconditionally , the challenge  is to adjust to changing times and still hold on to unchanging principles. 

　　There are voluntary and involuntary changes. Involuntary changes may arrive gently in silent, incremental steps, such as ageing or deteriorating health. Or forcefully, as in an ecstatic surprise or a devastating tragedy. Whichever way delivered, it’s not the change itself but the strength to handle it that will determine the subsequent course in your next stage in  life. 

　　Voluntary changes require determination and courage, usually in pulling ourselves out of our comfort zones into the beyond. That might mean breaking up and leaving a stale  but comfortable  relationship, leaving a mediocre  but stable  job, moving away from a nice but uninspiring location, or anything else that’s holding us back from accomplishing our dreams. It could also be something as simple as controlling our temper, learning to be more tolerant and charitable, just trying to be a better person on our way to achieving our full potentials.

　　With this quote, I wish all ETNET readers a prosperous Year of the Goat :

　　 “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” Rumi.