If you were like me when you were a child, you loved having a band-aid on. There was something cool and fun about it. And I suspect the Johnson & Johnson people knew about that too. They made all kinds of fun band-aids, of all colors and cartoon characters. You almost wanted to get a cut and bleed a little just so you could have one on.

Band-aid is good for what it was made — grazes and small cuts. Alas, it doesn’t help heal anything else.

Life too offers many different kinds of band-aids for our problems.

Got a problem with your parents? Lock yourself in your room and put your iPod on. Trouble communicating with your spouse? Go out for a drink with friends. Feeling angry? Go punch a wall. Money is short? Put it on the credit card.

Band-aid solutions for life abound. They’re cheap, easy, and offer immediate relief. That is, until they become expensive, ineffective, and useless.

When the root causes of problems are not dealt with, they only grow stronger. The problems come back worse every time. And cutting the root off becomes harder and harder.

How many band-aids is it going to take, and how much more loss and pain, for you to realize you need to deal with the root?