Abuse of Power
August 15, 2022
Why do we abuse power? I think it would be dangerous to oversimplify the answer, but we have some hints.
We do not understand power or appreciate its purpose.
Power is given to any of us for the purpose of service. We are entrusted with it, but it is not ours. It is a stewardship, but we grow possessive of it.
That is when we get into a danger zone. What we think we own, but suspect we do not, we grow to like too much and we start to defend it at all costs.
We divide the world into friends and enemies of our protected power and quest for more power. Our addiction to power, like any other addiction, causes us to act irrationally and even brutally.
We cannot handle power unless we work to maintain the attitude of a servant who is merely a steward of power that is not our own.
It can happen any time, to any people, anywhere that abuse of power becomes institutionalized, justified, and memorialized. Even if it grows out of a good cause or a noble endeavor, we must handle power as the powder keg of potential abuse that it is.
Power exists to serve.