Sometimes, the solution becomes the problem

IF you notice that you are getting a bit fat: Just take some diet pills, which will certainly make you lose weight (but sabotage your health in other ways; never mind changing basic habits that got you here in the first place).
If your teenage son is failing school and skipping class: No problem, just hit him and scream at him every time the principal calls you, that’ll get him to commit to his education.
By now, it’s somewhat clear what I want to talk about: Band-aid short-term solutions. We see them everywhere around us and most of us indulge in them every while and then. So what’s the fuss? If you’re getting the desired result, why be finicky about it? Why bother whether it’s short-term or long-term?
The answer might be self-evident for some but not so much for others, hence all the band-aid and ultimately ineffective solutions out there.
If we take a close look at most problems (on the individual or social level) we would find something subtle and easy to overlook: The problems that are staring us in the face are, in many cases, not the real problem. They are symptoms and results of an underlying cause — the real problem. A simple example would be headaches: While taking painkillers solves the immediate problem of pain, it does nothing to address the underlying cause of headaches (allergies, tension, poor posture etc.)
Some might say: Well you’re right, it’s not the most efficient solution but it’s a benign shortcut, so why not? And there is some merit to this argument in the sense that short-term solutions are sometimes necessary. It’s inconceivable to let a cancer patient writhe in excruciating pain, for instance, just because painkillers don’t solve the real problem. However, opting for the short term should always be accompanied by a strategy for the long term that addresses root causes and prevents further problems. Would it make sense to just give someone painkillers without treating their underlying condition (if that’s possible)? Doesn’t it seem wiser to treat the cancer, work on the immune system and address psychological stress that might exacerbate the condition? Otherwise, what are we really doing? We are basically just cutting off the weed from the surface while the root thrives, and surprise, surprise: It will grow again and we will waste so much valuable time and effort on repeatedly cutting the external part without pulling out the root. So shortcuts and band-aids are not always benign after all.
In fact, they can be a major obstacle on the path of significant and beneficial change or improvement. Just ponder the long-term effect of band-aiding educational problems, for example, by introducing iPads here and importing foreign curricula there while missing the root causes of inadequate education whether they were administrative or intellectual. Granted, this might provide some benefits (some of them cosmetic and temporary) and it also might create newer and more complex problems that could turn out to be worse than the original (in this case identity issues and first language deterioration).
Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that this tendency for band-aid solutions is understandable if not commendable. It’s quite simply easier. Looking at root causes and designing long-term sustainable solutions is difficult and time-consuming; in the long run, however, they are much more cost-effective (and by cost I mean financial, human and time). We don’t like to wait though for long-term slow results. It appears the concept of delayed gratification is a challenge for most of us (individually and collectively). We prefer more immediate results even if they are just bubbles, and when the bubble pops: Well, that’s tomorrow’s problem, right? In politics, economics, education, medicine and almost every aspect of life the bubbles keep piling up and they continue to pop, and we create others, and then they pop, and: You see where this going! When will it stop? When we realize the root problem in our thinking, and start shifting our focus to holistic long-term solutions. Eric Sevareid once said: “The chief cause of problems is solutions.” But I believe that shouldn’t necessarily be the case if we just stop with the half-baked solutions already.