One’s basic preparedness to die in a ditch. This generally is inversely proportional to one’s proximity to the ditch in question. If it the landscape appears flat, with not so much as a subtle impression as far as the eye can see in any direction, not crossing, or climbing back out of, that ditch is a matter of existential importance. When one is in it, less so. Thus the art of negotiation, in one sense, if steering the discussion into as many of your counterpart’s ditches as you can find. Note: since there is no underlying transaction, it is all-but impossible to fall into an actual ditch when drafting an industry standard template, unless it is created by a regulatory change.
