What Does unalterable Mean
The unalterable adjective is used to qualify that or that which cannot be altered or that is never altered . The idea of altering, in turn, refers to disturbing or modifying the form or essence of something.
The unalterable, in short, does not change state or condition . For example: "The president of the Central Bank assured that the interest rate will remain unchanged for at least one semester" , "It does not matter what my children say and do: my love for them is unalterable" , "According to analysts, the alliance between the two countries will remain unchanged as long as there is no change of government ” .
Suppose a man begins each of his days in the same way. He wakes up at 8 a.m., has a latte with two cookies for breakfast, and then takes an hour-long walk. It can be said that the routine of this individual is unalterable since he never modifies it.
The past , meanwhile, is always unalterable: you cannot change what has already happened. Yes, it is possible to narrate or even remember what happened in an altered way or influence its consequences. But what actually happened is unalterable.
Take the case of a young man who, drunk, tries to forcibly kiss a friend, who pushes him and gets angry with him. The next day, with no traces of alcohol consumption, the boy understands that he acted badly and apologizes to the girl. Although his friend forgives him and he does not have a similar behavior again, what he did is unalterable because he cannot go back in time to avoid it.
This concept has a peculiarity that makes it especially complex or broad: it encompasses both those things that, by their nature, are impossible to modify and those that must be maintained as they are to respect a norm. In the first group we must place "the events of the past", since naturally there is no way to go back in time and make corrections or make new decisions .
Regarding those things that we cannot change because someone has decided to do so, there are the rules and prohibitions that we must respect on a daily basis in order to live in harmony with other citizens: a public monument is an object that must remain intact because it is not owned by a a single person but a whole people , so that nobody has the right to paint it or change its shape.
The personal decision to make a routine unalterable is different, since we can abandon it at any time and replace it with another. In short, the weight of the unalterable is truly appreciated when there is nothing we can do to change its state, because this reminds us of our limits as mortal beings who are born on a planet without knowing why or for what.
The Constitution of a country is something else that can be considered unalterable only because it was decided by those with the most power. When the government determines that the constitutional order is such that there is no need for any reform of the laws, it builds a symbolic wall that is impenetrable to the desire for change, as if the Constitution became the compendium of the laws of nature , which are truly unalterable for us.
And at this point we find a nuance that can help us to further differentiate the types of unalterable things: trying to change physics itself is directly impossible, but it does not have negative consequences because there is nothing we can do; Going against the legal norms, on the other hand, can lead to a judicial penalty of different degrees of severity, which can include many years in prison or death .