Try harder and then fail miserably

I am sitting in a quiet room at my office, a peaceful little place hidden back among the front desk and other departments.

It's just past lunch, half-way through the new year, and I'm listening to the desperate sounds of a life-or-death struggle going on at Gaza on the radio news.

There's a small fly burning out the last of its short life's energies in a futile attempt to fly through the glass of the windowpane. The whining wings tell the poignant story of the fly's strategy: Try harder.

But it's not working.

Trying harder isn't necessarily the solution to achieving more. No doubt this approach makes sense to the fly. Regret tably, it's an idea that will kill.

But Palestinians are not flies. Ironically, the struggle is part of the trap.

See, if you stake your hopes for a breakthrough on trying harder than ever, you may kill your chances to success.

But I am trying harder. I am killing my chances to success.