Attacking the problem

A wise man and a guardian had both been entrusted with the daily operation of a temple. One day the guardian died and needed to be replaced. So the wise man called a meeting of all his best disciples with the aim of choosing the guardian’s replacement.
“I will present you with a problem,” the wise man said, “and the first to solve it will be the new temple guardian.”
After his quick introduction, he placed a small table in the center of the room with an valuable porcelain vase containing an exquisite arrangement of roses.
“This is the problem,” said the wise man.
The disciples were confused at what they saw: beautiful paintings on the rare porcelain and an elegant flower arrangement. What did it mean? What were they not seeing? What were they to do?
After several minutes one of the disciples got up, looked at the wiseman and the disciples circled around him. He then boldly walked over to the vase and threw it on the ground, shattering the valuable work of art.
“You are the new guardian!” the wise man said to the student.
When he had returned to his place, he explained: “I was very clear. I had told you that I was going to set a problem before you, and that’s exactly what I did.  You were looking for an obviously negative thing, but it doesn’t matter how beautiful or fascinating a problem is, it has to be eliminated. A problem is a problem, period. It can be a rare porcelain vase, a love that is no longer healthy, a path that needs to be abandoned… There is only one way to proceed with a problem, attack it head-on and refuse to be mislead with its external beauty.
The same happens to each one of us. The only way to see results is to confront our challenges with all our strength.