" This can clearly be seen in examples such as Vietnam and Iraq, when a misunderstanding of the native culture caused hostility between America and the people America was ostensibly trying to 'save' or to 'liberate.' Frustrated with colonial control, the Vietnamese saw the Viet Cong as liberators, and the Iraqis did not universally embrace democracy as a pure and cleansing force that would annihilate their old, ethnic and religious civil rivalries. Even in work or school, a new leader must understand the assumptions and needs...

Even a new stepparent cannot use his or her authority to impose new rules without sensitivity to their stepchildren's already secure sense of…