What was the role of adversity, or hardship, in the development of nation states?

I still remember the worst sales call I ever made. More than just remember it, I react to the memory. I get a queasy feeling in my stomach every time I think about it. It wasn鈥檛 just a bad sales call, it was a humiliating, embarrassing event. I don鈥檛 think I鈥檒l ever forget it.





That鈥檚 the point. There is something about adversity that has the power to linger forever in our memories, shaping our character and molding our behavior for the rest of our life.





Adversity can take countless forms. It can be a gut-wrenching incident, like my worst sales call, or more poignantly, something like an auto accident or the loss of a loved one. I鈥檝e had them all. Or, it can be a period of financial distress 鈥?yes, I鈥檝e had that too, a couple of times. Or, it can be a time of health problems, and relationship conflicts. Yep, you guessed it. I鈥檝e lived through both of those situations as well....