The Burden Series: Authority

What is authority? It is the the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. Generally speaking, it is a form of power which influences others. Why would this be a burden? Well, the problem is that the existence of authority does not necessarily imply that authority needs to be used, but not everyone understands this.

People with authority may feel the need to exercise that authority under the fear that authority will eventually be lost or not respected. It is like one's authority is a form of responsibility on its own, so one must use that authority to serve some kind of interest. This idea that authority must be used to be kept is a form of pressure which creates misused authority, though it is not the only reason authority is abused.

The idea that our opinions or decisions hold a higher level of weight than those of other people can be intimidating. For those with too little self-esteem, it creates inaction from the fear of mistake. These mistakes are seen as more costly. For those with too much self-esteem or a sense of self-importance, authority can end up minimizing this fear of mistake by making it unimportant. The idea that mistakes can be afforded for those who have power takes hold of the individual, and increases the misuse of authority through negligence.

Still, authority is linked with the attitude of the people. For humans, if authority is not respected, it can indeed disappear. People must follow the law which supports this authority for that authority to have power despite popular opinion. One might even say that the power of authority is merely a result of the power of strength, popularity or knowledge/experience. Surely, if what created that authority disappears, the authority disappears with it. So ultimately, the fear of its disappearance can be regarded as foolish if something besides the source for that authority is threatened.