If You Want to Test a Man’s Character, give him Power
Introduction
- The essay title is Abraham Lincoln’s statement, which can be used as a general principle.
- Character can be understood as the moral and behavioural leanings of a man or woman that predict their behaviour. The presence of character in a person can be discerned by universally valued attributes such as honesty, loyalty, empathy, and courage.
- Power is the ability to change the behaviour of others according to one’s own will, with or without their consent. Power can be of different types–economic, political, cultural, coercive, legitimate, illegitimate, etc.
- Main argument of the essay: The best way to test a person’s true character is by granting them power.
Body
- The general saying goes: “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Hitler is an example of this.
- Granting someone unconditional and absolute power is the best way to test their character, as there is no possibility of revocation.
- Arguably, not all people get corrupted with absolute power though it is rare to find such examples in human history. For example, George Washington was offered the title of king, but he refused.
- The position of power has the ability to impact others’ lives and is therefore the best way to test a person’s attributes such as courage, honesty, and loyalty, which determine one’s character.
- When in a position of power, it takes courage to admit mistakes or faults; only people with character can take responsibility for their acts. For instance, V.K. Krishna Menon resigned from his post as defence minister when we lost the war with China, taking moral responsibility.
- Gandhi had an immense hold over the masses and held charismatic power. He showed honesty and loyalty toward the nation throughout his life.
- It is difficult to test a person’s character if they do not have power, as their actions have only limited impact, which does not demonstrate their attitude towards the betterment of others. For example, beggars are one of the most powerless people in the society and it is difficult to assess their character through their day-to-day actions.
- A position of power also creates dichotomy between a powerful person and the powerless. How a powerful person treats her/his subordinates or the powerless shows her/his character.
- Abdul Kalam showed respect towards the people who served him and many of his anecdotes are famous.
- It takes true character to show empathy with the poor when countries/people have economic power, e.g. , Bill Gates helping the poor; developed countries agreeing to bear more burden for tackling climate change.
- Character is shown through power because there is no opportunity for reciprocity of actions when it comes to acting benevolently, e.g. , an IAS officer going out of his/her way to help a poor widow.
Counter-arguments:
- It is difficult to truly know the character of a person if the power given to her/him is checked by rules and regulations, since the person may then act out of fear of losing his/her position of power, e.g. , the behaviour of people in political offices such as that of the President and the Prime Minister.
- While one can argue that power that is checked by rules and regulations is not true power, it is true that there are opportunities of influence and use of discretion for personal gain even with checks and balances.
- Granting power is not the only way to test a person’s character. A person’s loyalty towards his friends/family is shown in trying situations. For instance, a young Muslim man was killed in recent Dhaka shootings because he refused to leave the side of his non-Muslim friend.
- Awarding power may not be the only way, but it is the best way to test character because of its ability to influence others’ lives, and the availability of discretion and influence.
Conclusion
- Being in power, understood as the ability to influence others’ behaviour, provides many opportunities for a person to show their character through their actions.
- Examples throughout history show that only people with character are able to act with empathy, show courage, and practise honesty when they are in power.
- There may be other ways to assess a person’s character, such as difficult situations, but awarding power is the best way to judge a person’s character, as it affects others’ lives and generally there is no possibility of reciprocity.
Notes
- Keywords: test, character, power
- Focus throughout the essay should be on the relationship between character and power.
- One can easily argue for or against this position as long as there are enough arguments to be made.