Letter from the Editor Oliver

What do you think of the word “change?”

Whenever I hear it, I remember Lana Del Rey’s song “Change” from her album Lust

for Life. The word also reminds me of political taglines and aphorisms. It’s been so overused—and sometimes abused—that it seems we’ve exhausted its meaning without arriving at actual change.

Once a word is repeated too many times, we experience a psychological phenomenon called “semantic satiation,” the point when a word eventually loses its meaning. Could we say that “change” has lost its meaning? I’d like to think not. As Lana sings, “Change is a powerful thing. People are powerful beings.”

The worst mistake we could commit as human beings is to be apathetic. To stop rallying for positive change. The only time “change” becomes meaningless is when it doesn’t serve its real purpose and meaning.

Our cover star Kathryn Bernardo, who is also facing many changes, still believes that the youth can change the world for the better. “I think malaki ang responsibility natin at walang ibang mag-aayos [sa mundo] kundi ’yung generation natin,” Kathryn says. “Siguro

kailangan lang ng kaunting push. Minsan kulang lang sa knowledge at kailangan lang na may magsimula.”

Scout’s 35th issue is all about growing up. And in our conversation with Kathryn and all the other people featured in this issue, we found that we need to initiate, challenge, and also embrace change, whether personal or societal, in order to grow up.