When we cannot see the wood for the trees

A complex issue: Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok and her deputy Datuk Seri Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin launching the Malaysian Palm Oil information wall at KLIA in Sepang on Thursday.

Usually this phrase is helpful because it reminds us that a situation can be so complex that we fail to grasp the main issue because of over-attention to detail.

Put another way, when we cannot see the wood for the trees, we are so lost in the detail of a thing that we forget the big picture.