ISCARED OFF an eagle last week. He was perched on the massive power-line tower down the road when I emerged from the woods to throw the ball in the field for our springer spaniel, Katie. The great bird screamed in protest at the intrusion, lifted off on his massive wings, and glided across the cow pasture to the next tower, safely distant from the Human and the black-and-white Terror.

I watched in awe the eagle's graceful flight, part of the majestic panorama spread before me: green rolling hills dotted with black Angus, the trees glorious at their peak color, the cornflower-blue sky swept by horsetail clouds. For 25 years it has been thus.

We moved to Fauquier County in 1984 because it was committed to remaining rural. And so it has, pretty much avoiding the cookie-cutter housing developments, the traffic, and the costs of growth the others localities have fallen into.

I cannot for the life of me understand why some people think change is always positive. About a decade ago I sat in a training class listening to an outside consultant classify people by their receptivity to change. I was definitely a "slow adapter." He had special techniques to "convert" folks like me. When I asked the question, "Who says change is always good?" you would have thought I'd just suggested that the president wore ladies' underwear (not that there's anything wrong with that these days).

I admit it--not all change is bad. I like the change of seasons. New menus, fresh faces, even unexplored terrain--all positive. And when I'm flying, I'd like the pilot to change course if he notices we're going to miss the airport.

Navigators care about two things: what the destination is and where we are in relation to it. They use an external reference point (like the North Star or GPS satellite) to stay on course. Likewise conservatives use the Constitution (and Christian conservatives the Bible) to judge whether behaviors, policies, ideas, and moral values are on target.