We live in a time of quick fixes and instant everything. Our silver bullet society wants a simple solution to every problem we face, and there are those who are all too eager to take your money for such a promise. But, what happens when we need to change a number of things in order to correct a problem.
KISS
Keep It Simple Stupid (or KISS) was a common term in the military. As I moved into the world of computers and troubleshooting the phrase was helpful yet again. Typically, there was one issue that was the actual problem, but a number of symptoms that presented because of it. As I moved into software development, however, things started to get more complex. I would need to design independent systems that interacted with each other in programmatic and scalable ways. Simple was always the goal, but early in my development career I would find myself having created a solution that could not scale, was difficult to maintain, and buggy.
There was no quick fix. I had to start from the beginning and redo do the design to make it work.
Are You Willing to Do the Work?
As we look around and see the state of things, a world which needs to be put in order, and no simple fix in sight, the question I often ask is "Am I willing to do the work?"
Some of you dads out there, reading this, you come from a home without a father or a bad example of one. You're not only trying to raise your kids right, you are also trying to create a scaffold of goodness for your family. That's a lot of work! You are mending and repairing while at the same time living it out in real time.
We need to move away from the quick and easy, simple solutions, and focus on the bigger picture. Instead of posting memes to make a point, or retweeting someone else's thoughts, we need to have conversations and encourage one another to move forward in life.
Save the silver bullets for the werewolves and let's be willing to do the difficult that needs to be done to put things in order.