Everyone has a cracking point. There comes a certain point in our relationships with others or in our feelings about ourselves when everything snaps. You and I are emotionally and physiologically structured so that we can withstand only so much. There is only so much garbage, so much heat we can take. Then, like the valve on a pressure cooker, we simply blow off. Perhaps the six most dramatic words in the English language are these: "I just can't take it anymore."

Every person has a cracking point. It happens to even the most passive and sedate person. I'll never forget an incident from my childhood. It occurred when I was 13 years old. My best friend's family used to gather on certain weekends in the fall at their "old homeplace" near Atlanta. They frequently included me on their trips.…