Problems or Issues

People don’t have problems any more; they have issues. I find that semantic change telling. Issues eradicate a sense of guilt from the adjudicating equation. Issues neutralize the blame game. No fault divorce; no fault insurance. I guess its good. However, I think something has been lost in the desire for a guiltless view of contention: namely, the corrective benefits of personal responsibility.

The acceptance of personal responsibility accelerates the quest for solutions. Whereas seeing contentions as issues make them stand alone; they are something over there, something neuter, dispassionate, removed. Issues require only discussion, not solution. Issues are cool; problems, hot.

In the physical world, however: light comes from heat. Perhaps that is why we have so many unresolved issues today (compared to problems yesterday): no one today is willing to take issues/problems personally, to take passionate responsibility for contentious issues, to take the heat, to resolve the issue in a blinding—and perhaps final--sense of dually revealed light?