1) "Absolute power corrupts, absolutely."
(I don't remember who said it first, but it's worth remembering for oneself and repeating as a reminder to others.)
and
2) A story from the film "Doubt"
In the film, a priest is being hounded by a nun who imagines she knows something about him. After she accuses him of a heinous crime, he tells the following story as his next sermon to their congregation.
"A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew." The priest looks up at the congregation and says: " I know none of you have ever done this." and then he continues.
"That night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed a finger down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest and told him the whole thing. "Is gossiping a sin? she asked the old man. Was that the hand of Almighty God pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution, Father? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?"
"Yes!", the priest answered. "Yes! You ignorantly badly brought up female! You've born false witness against your neighbor! You played fast and loose with his reputation and you should be heartily ashamed!"
The woman said she was sorry and asked forgiveness.
"Not so fast." said the priest. "I want you to go home, take a pillow off your bed, take it up to the roof, cut it open with a knife and return here to me."
So, the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, got a knife from the kitchen, took them both up to the roof and stabbed and cut the pillow open. Then she went back to the priest and told him she'd done what he asked.
"Did you gut the pillow with a knife?" he asked.
"Yes, Father."
"And what was the result?" he asked.
"Feathers." she replied.
"Feathers." he repeated.
"Feathers everywhere, Father." she said.
The priest then told her: " Now, I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind."
Well," said the woman, "it can't be done, I don't know where they went. They flew all over"
"And that," said the priest, "is Gossip!"
Great film. It also speaks to
3) Intolerance
but the story continues. later the nun and the priest refer back to this conversation and the nun asks, "is it true?" you see, as long as morality is subjective we can weave stories in any which way to make a point. but the nun asked "is it true?" - i.e., on the one hand, was this story about the confession and the pillow true (presumably not or it would not have left the privacy of the confessional), or on the other hand, was the rumor for which the nun was hounding the priest true?! because truth trumps all. the nun's question is an attempt to defrock the priest of his cloak of subjectivity.
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