Power

[poliphilo]

I had power once; footling amounts of it, but still enough to make me feel special.

It was fun.

I was the vicar of a small parish in the north of England. I didn't like my churchwardens and I suspected they didn't like me.

Now the churchwardens are supposed to be the representatives of the people; the people elect them and they're there to keep t' bloody vicar in check. This didn't stop me sniffing out and promoting candidates to run against the chaps I didn't like. Ooh, the ducking and diving and back-stabbing- and all of it conducted under a razzle-dazzle camoflauge of sunny smiles and Christian fellowship. It was a thrilling time and I won.

In the process I learned that the powerful:

(1)find democracy inconvenient and will do all they can to subvert it;

(2)are hungry for love and approval;

(3)lose touch with reality;

(4)lose all sense of proportion;

(5)persist in regarding themselves as the good guys in spite of all evidence to the contrary;

(6)believe, again in the teeth of all the evidence, that they alone know best;

(7)are permanently high on the excitement of it all;

(8)are intolerant of criticism and squash it where they can;

(9)will lie and lie and lie, rather than admit the slightest failing or weakness (even to themselves).

Once I'd worked all this out (which took many years) I resolved never to place myself in a position of power again.

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Yeppers, organized religions in a nutshell. Thanks.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And not just organised religion I think, but any organisation with a hierarchy.

[kinderheldin.livejournal.com]

Yes, that aptly describes the school system.

I appreciated this entry immensely -- I've been given and denied power. Once denied it (when I earned the title but due to the "old boy" system, wasn't someone the higher ups wanted to hang with), I was able to see right through it. It's harder to see through it, as an "it," when one rises up quickly or young.

Glad to see you saved your soul! :>

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I had a second flirtation with power- as a Wiccan high priest. Instead of taking a position within a pre-existing hierarchy, I was creating my own, with myself at the apex. If anything, the temptations were even more insidious and lethal.