“R

June 9th

SOLVE PROBLEMS EARLY

“There is no vice which lacks a defense, none that at the outset isn’t

modest and easily intervened—but after this the trouble spreads

widely. If you allow it to get started you won’t be able to control

when it stops. Every emotion is at first weak. Later it rouses itself

and gathers strength as it moves along—it’s easier to slow it down

than to supplant it.”

—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 106.2b–3a

ivers,” Publilius Syrus reminds us with an epigram, “are easiest to
cross at their source.” That’s what Seneca means too. The raging
waters and deadly currents of bad habits, ill discipline, chaos, and
dysfunction—somewhere they began as no more than just a slight trickle.
Somewhere they are a placid lake or pond, even a bubbling underground
spring.
Which would you rather do—nearly drown in a dangerous crossing in a
few weeks or cross now while it’s still easy? It’s up to you.