An excerpt from my upcoming book, Yearning for Simplicity. The book is a derivative work of the 1905 book, “The Simple Life”, by Charles Wagner.)
More dangerous than pride inspired by wealth is that inspired by power, in whatever form that power takes, one over another. There will always be need of unequal authority, society could not operate without people in charge or having power over other people. Power exercises a great influence over the person who holds it. A person needs to be well balanced indeed not to be disturbed by it. In every person there sleeps a tyrant, awaiting only a favorable occasion for awakening. Every person who says to someone dependant on them something such as, “do this favor for me” does wrong. Within each of us there is something which resists personal power, it is our healthy self-respect. We know deep down that we are all created equal, and no one has the right to extract obedience from us just because they are they and I am I, to do so degrades me, and I do not deserve to be degraded. The examples in daily life of people using power arrogantly are everywhere, just ask any employee how they have been treated. A bully can turn a free soul into a slave soul, the soul of a rebel. The closer the person is to the bottom of the hierarchy, the more tyrannical they become. The sergeant is generally harsher than the General is. In situations where the boss is not much more educated than the subordinate is, the roles take on those approaching convict and warden. And there’s nothing worse than the abusive parent, often times the result of alcoholism or drugs.