“Behind every great fortune there is a crime.”

The quote above is most commonly attributed to Honoré de Balzac, though it is apparently simplified (from his original words) to be more provocative. As is my wont, and because it feels applicable to our current day's structuring of power, I will spend a few words to examine this thought.

First, I believe that in this context “great” is a quantity and in no way is a measure or judgement of quality. This brings us to “fortune” which not only means wealth or riches, but also acknowledges chance or luck or lot or (for some) the grace of God. And finally (again for me, in this context), a crime is any wrongdoing, not just those wrongdoings that threaten punishment.

I believe wrongdoing comes from

• Untempered belief;
• Reasoning for a greater good;
• Purposeful intentionality;
• Ignorant intentionality.

I believe a very large majority of intentionality is ignorant. I believe purposeful intentionality is what we commonly refer to as Evil. I believe I addressed untempered belief last week. And just as I said regarding Balzac's simplified quote, “greater” in greater good has become a quantity and in no way is a measure or judgement of quality; and in this context, today, greater is not a quantity of people, (i.e. a majority), it is a quantity of power. And I believe good merely means advantageous for that quantity of greater power.

Power requires wealth, and though wealth can be an abundance of any resource that has value, ultimately, today, money is the major player.

Rephrasing Balzac, applicable to everyone: Behind every quantity of power, there is a proportionate amount of wrongdoing.

The wrongdoing is proportionate both to the quantity of power and to the character of the one who wields that power. The best that one (with any quantity of power) can do to minimize wrongdoing is to temper belief, consider the individual, and recognize one's own capability for ignorance and culpability for wrongdoing.

Where there is power, there will be injustice; and where there is Humanity, there are struggles for power and there are winners and there are losers and there are innocent bystanders.

I don't know if it saddens me more that so many of us are capable of intentional wrongdoing, or that we, as a species, appear to be incapable of minimizing wrongdoing. Perhaps I am saddened on both counts because so many of us are not surprised each time we see or hear about an injustice that with a small amount of consideration could have been a lesser evil. I am always surprised. In the immediate moment after, I may say, “I am not surprised,” but this is in hindsight; a piece of me is always surprised. This is my lot in life, my fortune and misfortune: to be surprised and therefore to be angry.

I believe a focused, rational anger to be necessary for change, and I believe surprise to be a critical jumping-off point for anger. But our senses are deadened by comfort; and we are comforted by hot-button promises sprinkled with crumbs of warmth and well-being channeled to us as constituents chosen for our ability to follow. For many, many years I was a follower. Those who are surprised and then angry are the exception, not the norm; they are unable to comfort with promises and reassurances because they see the reality of today and surmise the realistic possibility of tomorrow.

Yesterday I was asked to accept the reality of power and to not be surprised or angry. Relationships suffer when one constituency is surprised and angry and striving for change, and another constituency is simply wanting a glass of wine and dinner and pleasant conversation.

Add the frustration of my powerless inability to elicit change to my not-quite debilitating surprise and anger, and I understand (and often at the end of a day succumb to) the allure of a glass of beer and dinner and pleasant conversation; without which, sanity would teeter even more precariously. As in all things, there is an ebb and a flow.

This morning I read a headline. I was surprised and now I am angry. This is my lot in life, my fortune and misfortune: to be surprised and therefore to be angry. But as a human, it is good to recognize my occasional need for comfort, and my occasional ability, (as I did last night), to stay angry and come away with my sanity still (mostly) intact.

I believe a focused, rational anger to be necessary for change, and I believe surprise to be a critical jumping-off point for anger.