I received my most noteworthy scar not too long ago. The seconds preceding my injury play like a movie in my head. I was in my friend’s garage, and in order to make it out before the automated door closed, we both began sprinting for the exit. He told me to hurry and watch out for the toolbox. Reacting to my fear of garage doors closing on me, I mindlessly began running.

My frantic run ended when my thigh hit the corner of an open drawer on the toolbox. I looked at my leg and was upset to see my pants had ripped. I looked at my leg again and saw blood. To my dismay, my collision left me with a deep gash on my upper thigh. After cleaning and disinfecting the wound, I placed several butterfly bandages on the cut, hoping that would be enough to pull the skin together and allow my leg to heal. I certainly didn’t want to go through the horror and inconvenience of getting stitches.

The next morning, it was apparent I needed medical attention. I visited the doctor, who winced at the sight of my injury and informed me that I needed stitches. However, I could not receive them because they have to be administered within four hours of receiving a wound. I hobbled away with a bruised, bloody thigh and, because I hadn’t received stitches, a higher risk of getting an infection, longer healing time and the promise of a larger scar.

Though the bandages weren’t completely useless, they weren’t nearly as beneficial as stitches would have been. Had I received a small cut instead of a 3 ½ inch gash, a Band-Aid would have been just fine. But because my wound was deep, it needed more than basic remedies. Although the thought of stitches sickened me, I would have taken that over the trouble of continually bandaging my cut and worrying about infection.

I’ve found that many times in life we try to fix large problems with small, temporary solutions. Like Band-Aids, they might help for a while, but in the end more damage is done.

It reminds me of a time when I was driving down a well-traveled road. Potholes, all of which had been filled with gravel, dotted the street. Filling the holes with gravel was a quick fix, but after rain and extensive use of the road, I was sure the gravel would be washed or carried away, reopening the holes and making the road worse than before.

Initially it takes less time, pain and resources to simply put a bandage on problems. But after a while the cover comes off, exposing a situation that still needs fixing. Taking care of a problem the effective way the first time makes life much happier, and moving on can happen quicker. A key component to solving a tough problem is honesty about how bad the situation is. I’ve often shrugged my shoulders and said, “It’s OK” when something really upset me. However, I’ve learned one of the most liberating feelings comes from not always saying “It’s OK” when it’s really not.

Summoning up the courage to admit something needs to be done can be difficult, and covering sincere emotions with an “It doesn’t bother me” front can be a strong temptation. Solving world crises, working through relationship problems, bettering the community and almost every other aspect of life at some point requires going a little deeper, working a little harder and putting in a little more effort. It requires tossing away the gauze and pulling out the needle and thread. “Can we fix it? Yes we can!” — but it may take more than a bandage.