turn over a new leaf....

sometimes, phrases make me wonder at the perspective of the creator(of the phrase).take this one , for eg..turning over a new leaf...used to indicate a kind of transformative act...however, a new leaf on the tree is still very similar and fundamentally the same...maybe,"turning over a new leaf" is just symbolic and cosmetic within a set of given parameters.for a real transformative experience, the whole plant has to be new, not merely the leaf...a death of the old and a re-formation...rather than transformation...