Quick fixes for life

Don't we all want quick fixes for life's problems? A good friend told me to keep it short and sweet. Here goes...

Based on the last post, it is evident that there are no quick fixes to the global health aid/health systems problems. If there were, at least one of the milieu of smart people gathered at the top would have figured something out by now right? Did you know that this 'sustainability problem' is far from new? It's not an issue that has risen up in the last 5 years, although it has become a popular topic within that time frame. We had to read a paper written in 1995 by Anna LaFond titled (you guessed it) "The Sustainability Problem". I won't go into the details here but I do want to take this matter and relate it back to our individual lives.

Isn't the problem with quick fixes in our lives that they are not sustainable? Of course we have the classic examples of crash diets, that is so played out I will give it no further mention. How about our characters? [Character: the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing. e.g. affectionate, ambitious, argumentative, secretive, lazy, obedient, harsh etc]


If you have ever tried to change an aspect of your character, one of the things that fundamentally makes you you, you will agree that it is undoubtedly one of the most difficult things ever. If you implement a 'quick fix' without tackling the real root issue (as I know I certainly have), you come right back to the same place.

In the end, human character drives the way the world works. If selfish ambition is the driver, the results always will be win-lose. Those on the losing end in today's world are mainly the poor (and all the things that go along with poverty). No 'quick fix global health or development initiative', in light of this core character issue, is going to solve our problems. Like the bandage on the cracked egg, the egg is still cracked and it's only a matter of time before it breaks. Health problems aren't just health problems, they are social problems, people problems, character problems.

Just a thought....