The Bond of Adversity

P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone/Fax: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

The Bond of Adversity
Friend, would you like to know how to build unbreakable bonds of friendship and intimacy with another human being? Would you like to know the secret to team-building in your company? Would you like to know how to unite a fractured family or a quarrelling church? Well, if you do, I’m not sure I ought to tell you. And my reason for saying this, is because the answer could scare you off. More than that, it could make you decide the price is too high to pay. Just imagine, for example, that you wanted to make a cohesive, inseparable unit out of a mismatched group of people with gender, ethnic, religious, educational, and geographical backgrounds that are incredibly diverse. Let’s say there are seven of them. They’re male and female, white and black. In this group there is also a single mother, a married man, and a single man - but that’s enough about their diversity. The question is, how would you unite them? Well, here’s a sure-fire way: Throw them together as POWs during a war. The seven American prisoners who were rescued in the recent war with Iraq had very little in common before their ordeal. Five were from the ambushed 507th Maintenance Support Company; they took a wrong turn on a road as they headed toward Baghdad. The other two were an Apache helicopter crew; it went down during hostilities. These seven men and women were together for three weeks as prisoners in a variety of locations. However, thrown together by adversity, they have become inseparable. Both as POWs and now, they are watchful and protective of one another. They are deferential. They share everything from jokes, to pecan pie, to life stories. Both the soldiers who rescued them and the medical teams who took care of them now smile and tell of the “strong emotional bonds” the seven developed during their ordeal. My friend, office parties, church picnics, and family holidays are great. However they don’t have the desired effect of creating a team atmosphere and bonding the different individuals to one another. It usually takes a crisis for that. Hardship. Shared pain. Now, I wouldn’t wish trouble on anybody. But who hasn’t noticed that the thing which really bonds people to one another is sharing and surviving trouble? For instance, the Bali bombing, last year, graphically portrayed such bonding. And when a company is struggling to keep its head above water, instead of scattering, employees “buckle down” and get through a lean period. And we’ve also seen in the case of some married couples, rather than split up because of their “irreconcilable differences,” her cancer or their child’s arrest, that these adversities force them to cling to one another and learn to love again. Friend, life consists of relationships and we can’t be human alone. In fact, to be fully human on Planet Earth, we need to relate meaningfully to other people. So don’t give up on the less-than-ideal relationships in your life, because we really do need each other. If you’re reading this today and you would like to know more about how relationships can be improved or restored, just write to me for a FREE pamphlet titled “You Can’t Be Human Alone.” Email me or write to me at P.O Box 1540, Albany W.A 6331. Telephone / Fax (08) 98 418 418

Friend, would you like to know how to build unbreakable bonds of friendship and intimacy with another human being? Would you like to know the secret to team-building in your company? Would you like to know how to unite a fractured family or a quarrelling church?

Well, if you do, I’m not sure I ought to tell you. And my reason for saying this, is because the answer could scare you off. More than that, it could make you decide the price is too high to pay.

Just imagine, for example, that you wanted to make a cohesive, inseparable unit out of a mismatched group of people with gender, ethnic, religious, educational, and geographical backgrounds that are incredibly diverse. Let’s say there are seven of them. They’re male and female, white and black. In this group there is also a single mother, a married man, and a single man - but that’s enough about their diversity. The question is, how would you unite them?

Well, here’s a sure-fire way: Throw them together as POWs during a war.

The seven American prisoners who were rescued in the recent war with Iraq had very little in common before their ordeal. Five were from the ambushed 507th Maintenance Support Company; they took a wrong turn on a road as they headed toward Baghdad. The other two were an Apache helicopter crew; it went down during hostilities. These seven men and women were together for three weeks as prisoners in a variety of locations.

However, thrown together by adversity, they have become inseparable. Both as POWs and now, they are watchful and protective of one another. They are deferential. They share everything from jokes, to pecan pie, to life stories. Both the soldiers who rescued them and the medical teams who took care of them now smile and tell of the “strong emotional bonds” the seven developed during their ordeal.

My friend, office parties, church picnics, and family holidays are great. However they don’t have the desired effect of creating a team atmosphere and bonding the different individuals to one another. It usually takes a crisis for that. Hardship. Shared pain.

Now, I wouldn’t wish trouble on anybody. But who hasn’t noticed that the thing which really bonds people to one another is sharing and surviving trouble? For instance, the Bali bombing, last year, graphically portrayed such bonding. And when a company is struggling to keep its head above water, instead of scattering, employees “buckle down” and get through a lean period. And we’ve also seen in the case of some married couples, rather than split up because of their “irreconcilable differences,” her cancer or their child’s arrest, that these adversities force them to cling to one another and learn to love again.

Friend, life consists of relationships and we can’t be human alone. In fact, to be fully human on Planet Earth, we need to relate meaningfully to other people. So don’t give up on the less-than-ideal relationships in your life, because we really do need each other.

If you’re reading this today and you would like to know more about how relationships can be improved or restored, just write to me for a FREE pamphlet titled “You Can’t Be Human Alone.”

Email me
or write to me at
P.O Box 1540,
Albany W.A 6331.

Telephone / Fax (08) 98 418 418