In Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog he explains his desire to rule the world. Penny, the girl of his dreams, approaches him about helping the homeless. He explains that helping homeless is great, but homelessness is only a symptom of the disease. He says the fish rots from the head, and humanity needs to be completely rearranged.

Now, while I don’t have a deep yearning to takeover the world, I do understand the struggle between treating the symptom and treating the disease. Symptoms are easy to identify and complain about. Often, they are also easy to cover over and ignore. However, this only allows the disease to go unchecked. Symptoms must be addressed, but the disease has to be treated.

What are the diseases in your world? Some of mine are chronic disorganization and failed relationships. Now, in order to treat the symptom I need to buy a planner and sign up for some on-line dating service. Symptoms cause a lot of pain, so you shouldn’t pretend to ignore them.

But the true problems- a life time of bad habits and procrastination, lack of teaching in basic organization, struggles to maintain basic friendships, ignorance on how to interact with the opposite sex, not really knowing one’s self- those are the source of the disease. Overcoming deep personal problems takes a commitment to the slow, prodding process of change. It takes the humility to seek out help, and to submit to guidance. But in the end, you’ll be free of the symptoms, and the disease behind them.