Those who gain power unjustly, they were already corrupt, but what about those who are placed into a position of power incidentally? What about those who have earned it or have it by nature, like parents for instance? What about a situation where someone who is completely vulnerable, exploitable, someone dependent, someone weak, someone powerless, someone with needs, someone crying for help - finds you? What then?

Then you are at a fork in the road. Then you are at a crossroads where you must make a choice, a choice that determines your character, a choice to do good or evil. What people do with power when they find that they have it is very important, at least if they want to be happy, avoid corruption, maintain integrity, and avoid a future of self-hatred and self-disgust. If they want to do more good rather than harm to themselves.

Power is like a water spout in a lake, it is not meant to last long, it is meant to flow into the surrounding waters till they are level and the spout is no more.

I have made too many mistakes with power in the past not to have learned this lesson. I have found myself feeling too empty, too lonely inside to bear. I have found myself in desperation. Desperation, where there is no bottom level to how low our standards can sink.

We all have a shadow, a dark side. We are all afraid and want to avoid the knowledge, the emotion, the painful truth that we ourselves were exploited as vulnerable, helpless and dependent children, and in turn exploited others out of vengeance, later in life. For some who have gone too far, there is no coming back. Even for those who have not gone too far, the way back is a long and grinding trek.

Like the draw of an addict to heroin we seek a syringe of needs that were never met so that we can evade the inevitable feelings of withdrawal, the grief, the painful realization of truth, mourning the loss what we never had and the anger at what came in its place and those who did not do the right thing. We seek the easy short term pain relief of exploitation at a terrible, life destroying cost.

For those who are at a crossroads, to choose what is good, to choose the short term pain of withdrawal in exchange for the long term joy of becoming whole, is to choose the strength and empowerment of two people. Two people, the parent and the child, the therapist and the patient, the coach and the athlete, the teacher and the student, the philosopher and the unhappy.

Power corrupts when it is held, rather than dispersed. Held to dangle like carrot on a stick.

It is by trial of fire that we rise from the ashes of our hellish past. It is through empowering others that the purpose of power is fulfilled.