"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
-Abraham Lincoln
Adversity, conflict, conflict with another person. What traits does adversity test? One's patience, one's cunning, perhaps one's capacity for how much you can take. It challenges your sense of jealousy, but probably most of all your self-control.
Having power will also test one's self-control, but more so your will. As your power grows, so does its hold over your mind. As power strives to corrupt one; one must fight it with force of will. This concept is perfectly illustrated by the hundreds of powerful, but corrupt men. Think about it-Stalin, Hitler, Nero, Nixon, Saddam Hussain, Alexander the Great, bin Laden, the list goes on. When we look at each one of these individuals, we can see that perhaps in the beginning, these were, if not good, not evil men.
Yet there are other examples of men who have defied poer's corruptibility. Take Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, the Pope, Constantine, and Eleanor Roosevelt for example. All of these people hld an incredible amount of power in their hands, but instead of being corrupted, they used their power to bring about good.
Yes, I agree with Lincoldn's statement, because, as you can see from the examples above, the one's who were corrected were obviously not men of charachter or integrity. However, those who remained uncorrupted were those with strong, right characters. As the Greek philosopher, Hiraclitus, said, "A man's character is his fate." How true.
your most favorite blogger,
Katy
3 comments:
The analysis on power may or may not be true. The basic trait that all of the "failures with power" have versus those that dealt positively with it is that the failures all ultimately lost and the others won. Thus, the winners got to write history while the losers (in this case, some of the "losers" lost directly to the "winners") are usually given they're definition by the winners.
You're right, my analysis might be off. I mean, I'm no expert professor on the human psyche, but...yes, those who dealt well with power won and those who didn't lost, but all the same my point still stands. There are hundreds of other examples. And it wasn't just the good people who wrote history. Some were just scholars on the sidelines who decided to write down what they saw. If you meant that to mean that those who dealt well with power had a bigger, more lasting legacy, let me correct you. Hitler certainly "made more history" than Eleanor Roosevelt. Besides, everyone ultimately loses, in the end, everyone dies.
I totally agree!!
I have seen that.
You can use power for good or for evil.
Many people end up using it for evil, because they get soo caught up in it.
Love "K"
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