Reading Power & Patriarchy: Battles for Political Legacy in the Economic Times reminded me how emotions, shadows, greed, and the laws of nature both build and destroy families.
Some thoughts-
1) The Mahabharata is the great archetype, yet family feuds repeat in every generation.
2) When wealth, legacy, or power is at stake, the family tree shakes, and the strongest branches which are siblings who know each other’s vulnerabilities are often the first to clash.
What was once affection resurfaces as comparisons , resentments, and memories that refuse to die.
3) Bonds within a family resemble chemical bonds in nature, stable only when aligned.
The wrong bond unsettles the whole structure, and sooner or later, an explosive reaction follows. Uneven rewards make peace feel costly, and disputes soon invite lawyers, change managers, and headlines.
In anger, good memories fade and reason collapses.
3) And yet, conflict is not destiny.
Families that endure create clarity early, give each member space, and design systems where conflict costs more than cooperation.
4) They honor uniqueness rather than comparison, plant seeds of fairness before minds harden, and live the values they expect from others.
5) Like nations, families collapse when benefits are assumed but never shared.
Harmony lasts only when affection is reinforced by design.