So, we ran out of honey. In the delicate balance of my mother’s household, this constituted a major crisis. Specifically, a failure of leadership by yours truly. 

You see, my mother’s household in Bali operates like a benign dictatorship. A power pyramid with a clear chain of command, decades of smooth running. Then she got sick, her authority wavered, and I found out just how fast a system collapses when no one’s sure who’s in charge.

Turns out the small things matter more than the grand pronouncements. You can promise to take care of everyone. But if you don’t circle back on the toilet paper, or the honey, you’ll learn that the hard way, whispered to you by very patient household staff. … New essay, up on Substack.