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Dark Side of Power
By Mowahid H. Shah
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
Why do those who ride high one day fall loudly with a thud the next? This is a question often asked in Pakistan and other autocratic cultures when examining the fall of a government or the downfall of a once-mighty politician. The fault may lie with the nature and wielding of power itself.
A close confidant of a prominent leader once told me that there was a transformative difference between the leader in the role of a campaigner for office and subsequently as a head of government. Perhaps, the act itself of attaining power contains the seeds of downfall.
One of the hazards faced by leaders is a seemingly impenetrable wall of flatterers, fortune hunters, and opportunists who are attracted to holders of power and seek to encircle the ‘Kursi’ (chair). Amidst so many honeyed tongues, it is hard to remain impartial and balanced and heed discordant tunes of truth-telling dissent. The tendency is to dismiss any bad or unwelcome news.
The ancient Romans had a practice of having a runner whispering “all glory is fleeting” while running alongside a conquering general parading in
Caesarian splendor. The intimations of mortality were a subtle reminder to dispel illusions of immortality.
With the achievement of political goals, the trend and tendency is to stop listening. The progression to political power is a test of political ability. Once in power, however, the test becomes one of character. It is here where most fail to pass. You hear what you want to hear. You mostly meet people on an ‘as needed’ basis. And you compromise rudimentary ethics for the sake of mostly self-imposed and self-defined pragmatic considerations of power politics. In short, paving the road to perdition (to quote the title of a recent hit movie).
The core problem is that those who are in power tend not to view themselves as temporary inhabitants of the chair, deluding themselves instead into thinking that they will hold onto power in perpetuity.
Last summer, during a memorable drive to a remote part of rural Pennsylvania - settled by Germans over 250 years ago - in an old cemetery of long-gone German immigrants, I came across a faded tombstone inscription. It instructed the reader to not forget the brevity of life and the finality of death.
It is a reminder perhaps that we all should heed.
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