I remembered when I declared my major in college that there was an old joke that would consistently come up in the conversations that followed – You’re majoring in religion and political science? Why don’t you just add accounting and then you won’t be able to talk about anything you do.

What we are coming to realize now, however, is that this bygone adage has done far more damage than most of us could have ever imagined. The reason being: we are just really not good at talking about difficult or complex or uncomfortable things.

We run away and stick our heads in the sand as fast as we possibly can, thinking that if we can just push the discomfort and challenge far enough down or off, then everything will be alright.

Interesting fact here – the notion of burying our heads in the sand comes from the animal kingdom where ostriches appear to stick their heads in the sand for extended periods of time. Not surprisingly, we humans automatically assumed it was because they were hiding from something they did not like (because that is what we want to do).

In reality, the ostrich is instead sticking its head down into its nest to turn its eggs several times a day. She is ensuring new life will have the chance to thrive under the surface not out of fear, but instead out of refuge and strength so that those beginnings will grow into mighty and formidable creature.

We don’t want to wrestle. We don’t want to deal with conflict. We don’t want to have to turn things over that might show us uncomfortable truths that could be the very seeds of changes that need to happen.

And yet, that is what we have to do if we are ever going to grow and succeed and thrive in this life. Whether sapling, hatchling, or human, this universal truth remains: until we deal with the underlying issues, we will never be able to move forward.