Essay #2

Jessica                                       Essay Draft                   April.24/2014

                           “Power always corrupts the one who holds it”

            Many times power can corrupt a person, but it could also reveal the truth. As a person gains power, the less control he has over his mind and himself. Limited power is always good for somebody to have, until they get more than they need. Power does not always result in negative consequences, but the many times it does, things can get out of control. There is always a reason to why it happened, an explanation on how it happened, and the results on how it affected the person that lost control.

            There are many reasons as to why power could corrupt someone. The main reason that affects people is that they are introduced to power at a young age. As a child, a lot of elderly people such as your parents or teachers have power over you. This makes kids think that it is okay to have control over another person, so they start to do it as they get older. While they keep aging, they keep wanting more power than they already have which brings on another point, too much power overrules the mind. It is natural for a human to start getting bored with something they have had for a while. Once somebody has a certain amount of power for quite some time, it will no longer satisfy them so they will keep wanting more and more. If they manage to get it, all that power will overrule their mind until they start using it only for the benefit of themselves. When people get to this stage, it starts to affect everybody around them in a negative way. If you want power, it is better to keep it to a limited amount, enough to make yourself happy but also anyone around you.

            Once somebody feels like they are in control, many things take a turn for the worse. The moment people know that they have power; they tend to take advantage of it. They might start doing things that are wrong, but thinking it is okay because having power will make someone feel like they are higher than others. That person might even use it against others and start making people do things for the person in control just to benefit himself. Having all that power will make someone feel overconfident which results in being very poor at spotting his own mistakes. In other words, having more power than you should can give you more opportunities to do bad things and get away with it.

            Most of the time, the results for this do not turn out positive. Getting to the point where you feel overconfident and very powerful will lead to the loss of your friends. The people around you will not be happy with the way they are being treated. It will also lead to the loss of yourself. Sometimes you will not remember how acted like before because the power will overcome your mind. This always leads to the loss of control. The more power you have, the less control you have over yourself because you let it take over.

            To summarize, having so much power could either make you or break you. Before people become powerful, they usually think that they will not turn into one of those people that get out of control. This can be true, however, there is also a possibility that you will. Being powerful is good, up to a certain point. Power does not always corrupt the one who holds it, but in most cases, it corrupts more than it does not.