A "problem" or simply a "reality?"

I feel like we live in an age where people really don't know how to solve problems, or at least they look at difficult situations and view them as a problem. The truth is, is that some things we simply need to accept as realities. They are realities that are done, over, and unchangeable. The problems we face, will always have a solution. For example, a kid and their mom are making a cake for their cousin's birthday. The child accidently drops the birthday cake on the floor. By the mom yelling at the child, that is not going to fix the "problem." What is the problem in this situation? The yelling at the child is not solving the problem. By yelling, the cake will not magically re-make itself, and raise up off the floor. Do you get what Im saying with this? The problem--is that now there is not a cake to take to the cousin's birthday--and there is indeed a solution to that problem! Fix the cake on the floor, or just make a new cake! 

What I am getting at with this is that there is simply a way of problem solving that changes your perspective when you look at problems this way. We identify a problem, and it's solution. When something is un-changeable, it is simply a reality we have to accept.

We apply to grad schools and don't get in to any of our top choice schools. What is the problem, and what is the reality? The problem is not that we didn't get in. That is a reality. We cannot change the initial fact that we weren't accepted. The problem is that whatever pre-requisites were needed to get into the certain schools, were not met, and certain things need to change in order to fix the problem. 

I also think that we live in a world that is a "quick-fix"  society. We don't want to take the necessary efforts in order to truly get to the root of problems. It takes a lot of situational analysis in order to figure out where we have gone wrong in our doings. A lot of times we have to change more than one behavior or attitude in order to fix things.