I remember one of Groucho Marx deadpan deliveries as he holds the wrist of a man lying on the ground and states, Either this man is dead, or my watch has stopped. These are not times for confusion or hesitancy. Bennot Schmidt, Jr. was the President of Yale University in the early 1990s. The following is quoted from his baccalaureate address of 1992 to the students of Yale College, reflection requires response and a sense of coherence nurtured by stability. Rapid change promotes instability and incoherence.
Radical change threatens disorder.
Disorder breeds fear. Fear tends to cause that hunkering down in self interest that withers civic virtue. In effect, that change is uncomfortable and requires careful thought and a large degree of tolerance. Or as Pascal noted, A suspension of disbelief. As ASDC and AAPD move together toward merger, the seeming suddenness has caused some to hunker down for fear of loss of identity or other possible frightening effects of rapid change.