Power is a drug. We’ve all seen people addicted to it, getting caught up in having power, keeping power, exercising power, just being powerful. To be able to have people do what you say no matter how outlandish, how unreasonable, unfathomable. People just say yes. And like most drugs, if you abuse it, it destroys you and those around you.

But power is even more insidious, because unlike other drugs, when it is destroying you, it doesn’t do it physically. It corrupts you psychologically. You look on others as lesser people, you believe you are more deserving, more enlightened, you can end up believing that you, and you alone, should be in charge, because of your superiority.

And this is the part that is always the most intriguing, the superiority, not because you are a peak athlete, having trained your body through long dedication and determination. Not a world leading subject expert, due to hundreds of thousands of hours of experience and study in your special field. No, none of that. You have just managed to navigate the political or business landscape in what any decently objective observer will see is part luck and opportunity, to achieve a position where you are seen as powerful.

The times are always changing, and to achieve a position of power, you need to have the times suit who you are, not be some god like visionary. Visionaries are spread throughout history, and many of them, in the wrong time, in the wrong circumstances, failed, faded into obscurity, or in some of history, were executed by the state.

Does this diminish the power of a vision? No, of course not. But a vision is one thing, but without the technical and organisational know how, without the workers, the logistics, without the infrastructure of a society under you, what can a vision be other than words? What good would the internal combustion engine be, without the wheel?

But I digress, power is the issue, and it is a most dangerous, addictive, and for those affected by its decisions, deadly a drug. If you find yourself with power, and you feel it, truly feel that you have it, can do anything with it, understand that you are in the thrall of a drug, and act accordingly.

We don’t let drunk people drive, we don’t trust high people to do complex tasks, why would we trust those in the thrall of power make important decisions that can affect us all?

Addiction will always be part of humanity, it’s part of our makeup, but we must acknowledge it, and take care of those in its grip with compassion and care, especially when the drug is power.

-Marissa Klotzbucher, Thoughts and comments for public consumption