“For every thousand hacking at the branches of evil,” wrote Thoreau, “there is one striking at the root.”
Thoreau’s quote reminds me of my Blackberry Hedge War of 2005, a series of backyard gardening skirmishes in my home along the Puget Sound. The enemy? A vicious blackberry hedge off my back fence. My first battle, a whole-afternoon full-frontal hack-fest (with frequent lemonade breaks, of course. War is hell).
By day’s end, I thought I’d won. I was wrong. First, new shoots scouted the yard. Then bushy hordes followed. The more I cut, the more they grew. The war raged month after month, until one day I’d had enough. I crawled into the prickles, way behind enemy lines, and severed the roots. One hour and the war was over.
That year, I battled hard. But not smart. I ran ragged, hacking leaves. It only wore me out, wasted my time, and encouraged the leaves back stronger. But when I clipped the roots, everything changed.
In every situation we face, there are roots and branches. We can hack at the branches of the issue, or get to the root. When we learn to find and strike the root, we dramatically increase our problem-solving power.
