Like some students, I went to bed last Thursday upset, angry and worried. Yeah, it’s football season again – once again, our team faces a number of hardships, which is a polite way of saying that we’ve got a problem or five.

But behind the obvious problem (losing 34-0) there lies a far more subtle and far more dangerous one: we don’t see the real problem. Like any number of football fans, I’ll probably yell profane things at the television when Daniel Evans throws a stupid interception or falls to the ground in the pocket and curls up into the fetal position. But as I’m also someone who likes to believe he is capable of critical thought, I try to see if there’s a bigger problem.

And boy, do we have a bigger problem, and I’m not only talking about football.

We very much seem to have an obsession with “band-aid” fixes. These are solutions that are quick, easy to apply and produce visible results, much like a band-aid. There’s no problem with these types of fixes – after all, they are quick and produce visible results. But while a band-aid may work just fine in keeping a cut or scrap clean and let you carry on in your daily routine, a simple fix can’t cure a congested heart or remove a lethal cancer.

Yet the band-aid approach to most problems is endemic to our society. Just look at our football team – the natural response to poor quarterback performance is to demand that the coaches make a substitution and put another person on the field to run the offense. It’s quick, easy to apply and produces visible results, but it ignores our real problem: we don’t have an offensive line that can provide solid protection for the quarterback.

Worse, our love for quick, easy solutions applies to more practical and serious matters than football. After the Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and Wolf Village shootings, a number of people pushed immediately for concealed carry permits for firearms on campus. And in the news, many Republicans are pushing for expanding offshore oil drilling to ease consumers’ pain at the gas pump – and with the foul weather in the Gulf of Mexico, we’re going to need as much relief as we can get.

But both of these “solutions” ignore the bigger problem. If shootings are a problem on campus, is the real solution to add more guns to allow people to defend themselves? If oil prices are starting to make driving unaffordable, is drilling offshore going to save people money?

The answer to both of those questions is no. Allowing people to carry concealed firearms on college campuses and drilling for more oil off the American coast are simple attempts to solve complex problems. And for such complex problems, we need to come up with complex solutions that address all the variables that may affect us. We won’t see quick results, but we will see better ones.

But in the meantime, could we please try to recruit a better offensive line? Please?

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