“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.