History is the Study of Change

INCIDENT:
I went to see the film "Half Nelson." It's the story of an inner city school teacher with a drug addiction. He finds some hope when he befriends one of his students. This of course is an oversimplification. Just go see the movie.

Anyhow, he teaches his students U.S. civil rights based on the theory of dialectics -- that change is the product of opposing forces. For example, in the civil rights movement there was a minority of people, who believed in equality, placed in opposition with a majority of people, who believed in segregation. It was through the opposition of these two forces that change occurred in U.S. culture and policy in the form of Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Little Rock Nine, etc.

MORAL:
It is the intensity of opposing extremes that spur change in the masses. The same is true for individuals. We approach life with at least a general idea of where we are heading. Do we want a family? What do we want to do for a career? Where do we want to live? The specifics for attaining those "goals" get teased out in the day-to-day. But often in our path we are confronted with ideas or circumstances that conflict with our plans. How dedicated are we to our path when we are met with these obstacles? With just one more nugget of information, would we have made completely different choices in our life? Would we be the same person?