Tripping on Power

We've all had to deal with people who are high on their own power, despite how little they may have. And we do this -- it galls me to say it -- on a daily basis.\nWe all know who they are: The traffic officer, the irritating clerk, the overbearing boss who thinks God himself opened the skies and handed him a golden scepter, signifying his divine right to lord it over all other poor souls who must grovel before his awe-inspiring majesty.\nI'd gladly bow before anyone with such a mandate. In the case of those who simply act like they have one, however, quite the opposite is true. Those who put on the most airs usually are in either the most useless or the most menial positions.\nThis weekend I pulled into a parking lot that I thought was free, but apparently, I was wrong. Then, I beheld the uncrowned queen of the parking lot herself. She sat proudly upon her throne in the royal gate booth. Clad in her jacket bearing the insignia of her office and an envelope full of money, she haughtily commanded, "$3!"\nSomewhere between envisioning myself ripping her face off and wanting to burst out laughing, I left and found parking elsewhere. I managed to survive this encounter with one of these petty tyrants, but it made me realize how often I have to deal with people like that.\nAnd they show up in the international forum, too. The United Nations is the epitome of useless bureaucrats on a power trip who spout orders without enforcing them. On Jan. 25, Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, issued his decree: "The international community expects Afghanistan to start dismantling as of this year its opium economy."\n"Expects?" Costa seems to forget that the United Nations is a largely imaginary organization whose statements are, at best, advice. It cannot enforce its pronouncements, yet it forcefully issues its commands as if they were given by divine right. Costa, for all his titles, is no better than the parking autocrat. Both suffer from delusions of grandeur.\nSo why do such people become engrossed in their power when all that power is nothing but a petty or irrelevant function, unnecessary for the general good? \nPride. It is one of humanity's fiercest driving forces. We need titles and positions to feel superior to others and make ourselves feel like we have control. The rush that comes from feeling powerful goes to the head, transforming a titled peon into a deluded megalomaniac.\nAnd this "free," unstructured society in which we live only makes the situation worse. There are no official class divisions or titles, so the petty thrive on meaningless positions. In America, at present, one cannot be an earl, say, or a marquis; instead, we must be content with "Head Custodian," "Salesman of the Month," "Second Executive Assistant Undersecretary to the Interim Vice Secretary to the Chairman" or a combination of acronyms signifying too much schooling.\nBut whereas the former titles carry meaning, tradition and power behind them, the latter are only meaningless, unflattering sinecures. Yet those with them behave with the pomp and self-importance of the haughtiest noble.\nIf their egos were stripped away, they'd see their unimportance in the grand scheme of things, and I doubt they'd still put on airs. The overall result would be friendlier, more productive members of society who know their true value because they don't overestimate it.\nSome of you reading this, I am certain, have been on a power trip of your own at some point. Stop it. You'll finally earn the respect you think you deserve.