Pulling Weeds

When I take a walk at the facility at work, I often find myself pulling weeds in the sidewalk cracks.  Yes, I'll be walking along in my black dress skirt, black and white patterned blouse, dangly earrings, and 2 3/4-inch patent heels, and I'll be pulling weeds.

I've learned that there are some weeds which are not easy to pull.  Some of the varieties of grass, for example, become firmly ensconced and spread their roots wide, while keeping the length of its leaves low.  I know if I try to pull those, the tops of the leaves will be broken off and my fingers will end up scraped on the pavement, while the roots will remain, ready to produce more leaves the next day.

Other weeds, however, have a single root and come up easily, even if we have had no rain.  Some stand up straight and are simple to grasp.  Others have leaves which spread, but which are easily removed by simply gathering the leaves together to show where the central root is located.  When I spot one of those weeds, I cannot pass it without removing it.  (The landscaping crew would be grateful, I'm sure, because if the weeds are left too long, they have to come by with weed killer.)

Some of my co-workers think I am crazy or have OCD.  I call it "taking pride in the facility."  After all, a little effort on my part which doesn't take an appreciable amount of my time helps to polish the place and create a good impression for visitors.

I'm sure my husband would like it if I paid as much attention to detail in my housekeeping . . .

So what does this have to do with WoW?

Just like the weeds, problems can be pulled out of the cracks early and prevented to become large and unsightly, with deep roots.  This applies to either personal, social issues (like the time some time ago where someone had an unreasonable expectation that I really wanted his off-color whispers), or to leadership matters (such as the time some time ago when the guild leadership stopped a conversation in raid bordering on harrassment about my religion, because the guild has a "no harrassment" policy.)

This can also be applied to performance issues.  Is that new healer just not "getting" it?  An experienced player giving them some advice can set them on the road to good habits, if they are willing to listen and learn.  Just discovered that you don't know as much about your class as you think you did?  Stop, do some reading, and start moving in the right direction before you become so ingrained in the wrong one that changing directions is cumbersome.

It is no surprise that problems are a lot easier to solve when they are small than to wait until they become large.  If you have to call in the weed killer, there could be collateral damage.