People survive the most devasting natural disasters in relatively good psychological shape. But relationships can be destroyed with one wrong word, one single act. - Richard Farson, “Management of the Absurd”

Organizations and communities are made up of cooperative relationships between people.

Cooperative and trusting relationships are not easily built - they take time, energy, effort, and presence.

In spite of all the effort and patience required, a relationship can be destroyed with one single act or word. How many people do you no longer talk with because they upset you?

My forming opinion is likely, way back in the past, we were biologically incentivized to look for moments where someone in our community would let us down - our survival was at stake. Nowadays, we don’t depend on people like that to survive - we don’t need that level of bias, but it’s there.

Though this might be our un-evolved nature, how might we make it a strength? How might we transform ourselves from being ultra-fragile to being more resilient?

How might we transform the proverbial straw that broke the camels back into a reinforced steel beam?

I don’t have any answers… I, like you, have too much straw. But, I’m willing to go down the rabbit hole and see where it leads.