Like so many around the world, I wept to watch fire consume much of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday. Whether you're Catholic, Protestant or none-of-the-above, it's crushingly sad to witness the destruction of such an important symbol of Western Civilization (in real time, no less, thanks to streaming technology).

I was equally uplifted by Pope Francis's global message Tuesday on Twitter (technology again): "Today we unite in prayer with the people of France, as we wait for the sorrow inflicted by the serious damage to be transformed into hope with reconstruction."

Ben Franklin famously said life's only certainties are death and taxes. His point was that nothing is permanent, and so I'd like to think Ben would not mind if I added "change" to his list.

As a species, human beings are hardly better than our simian relatives at grasping the concept of time (Einstein, Hawking and maybe a few others excepted). Habits, ideas and structures seem to have been there forever as soon as they've popped up. It hurts to watch movies or TV shows set in New York 20 or so years ago, because they inevitably have a shot of the skyline with the original World Trade Center towers looming at the south end of Manhattan. They were icons, although they were in place less than 30 years.

Watching Paris's cathedral burn was yet another reminder that icons don't last forever.

But the Pope has the right idea: Time heals. Even as magnificent an edifice as Cathédrale Notre Dame had a beginning and will, eventually, have an end, but not yet. The tragedy, which thankfully did not include loss of life, provides the world with a focus, for donations, participation, and eventually goodwill when the rebuilt cathedral once again hosts services. I was surprised to learn, for example, that the famous lacy spire that was lost dated back less than 200 years; 200 years hence, however, whatever Notre Dame looks like will seem like the way it has looked forever.

What I, and most people I know, need to keep in mind is that change is a constant in our day-to-day lives, even if we don't feel it as clearly as we do when a massive blaze fills the TV screen. Heck, I was overly dismayed to learn that the Bar Louie "gastropub" in my neighborhood closed up shop; it opened just a few years ago but I don't remember a time without it (I'm really going to miss the Buffalo chicken flatbread).

Companies are changing, your job is changing, regulations are changing and the structure of the economy is changing. The meat industry certainly is changing, from farm to fork. Lament the damage, then start planning the reconstruction.

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