Every Road Has an End

The intoxication of power has a nature of its own for those who hold power.

In this sense, there is no difference between a husband who abuses his wife at home, a boss who treats his employees unjustly, and a state that holds onto power by intimidating and suppressing its people without listening to their voice.

Once the poison of power lowers a veil over one’s eyes, it is not easy to free oneself from it. And standing against such power is by no means easy for those who have much to lose.

Out of fear of being left with nothing and being unable to provide for her children, that woman often cannot leave her husband. And out of fear of unemployment, the employee cannot simply resign.

This is deeply human. People fear loss. They say no one is innocent of a sin they have not been tested by. Perhaps what we need to understand is this. No one can be the hero of a suffering they have not been tested by.

When power comes unjustly, unlawfully, unfairly, and through intimidation from a place that a person should have been able to see as a support, from those who govern so that one may receive service, trust, and feel at home in one’s own homeland, and when it creates the fear of something that cannot be resisted, then passivity too becomes human and understandable.

Yet there is one thing no one who holds power can escape. Death.

A human being knows that such an end is inevitable. Sometimes they send their loved ones ahead. Sometimes they themselves say goodbye too early. They live knowing this and learn to endure it.

Whether one believes or not, whether one dreams of eternity or nothingness, the reality of death tells us that all ambitions, all possessed wealth, and all oppression will one day come to an end.

And death is the greatest power that no ruler can control.

That is why it is worth reminding those who hold power from time to time.

The road has an end. Do not wear yourself out so much.