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Into The Woods Journal

Year 2024 — Week Twenty-Four

Michael Ken
32 min readJun 26, 2024
Foliage in Sims, North Carolina

June 10

Corn Chip Feet

The morning started early, and I woke up feeling rested. Over the weekend, we caught up on chores, so this morning, there was no laundry to wash or dishes to clean or put away. Over coffee, my wife told me she planned to sit away from the full-time employees of her current medical rotation. She told me they sat down and talked poorly about the doctors the entire day and she was tired of it. She also recounted how, after a few weeks of working, this circle drew in a new employee who had been relatively quiet.

Why was gossip so toxic? And why did people do it? I felt like a person who sat around talking about others was insecure and probably didn’t have enough work to do. The conversation took me back to a group I worked with while living in Mexico. The big boss there only had three rules, but he strictly enforced them. Break any rule, and he would immediately fire you, no matter who you were or what skills you offered. No drugs, no stealing; no gossip.

It always struck me that this boss viewed gossiping as something just as toxic as the two criminal behaviors. Over the years, however, I saw firsthand how all three behaviors negatively affected a business. You couldn’t trust people who couldn’t control themselves, or…

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Michael Ken
Michael Ken

Written by Michael Ken

My journal about life in the woods. Visit intothewoods.blog to see my complete journal, photographs, and articles.

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